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Saalfield Publishing

The Saalfield Publishing Company of Akron, Ohio published children's books and other products from 1900 to 1977. It was once one of the largest publishers of children's materials in the world.

The company was founded in 1900 in Akron, Ohio, by Arthur J. Saalfield who had come to take charge of the Werner Company's publishing department. During its flourishing, the company published the works of authors including Louisa May Alcott, Lewis Carroll, Horatio Alger, P. T. Barnum, Daniel Defoe, Laura Lee Hope, Herman Melville, Dr. Seuss, Anna Sewell, Shirley Temple, Johanna Spyri, Mark Twain, Johann Rudolf Wyss, Ohio author, columnist, poet, and humorist James Ball Naylor, and Robert Sidney Bowen. Colonel George Durston was a commonly used house name for ghost writers working with this publisher.

Saalfield published the ''New Americanized Encyclopædia Britannica'' in 1903, and was sued for copyright violation.

The company also published educational toys and games, including the game Blockhead!.

Among the artists employed by Saalfield was noted illustrator Ethel Hays. She worked on a variety of the company's juvenile titles, including ''Peter Rabbit'', ''The Night Before Christmas'', and ''The Little Red Hen''. Her most notable work came after Saalfield had secured the license from the Johnny Gruelle Company in 1944 to produce Raggedy Ann and Andy material. Storybooks, coloring books, and paper doll booklets soon followed. Most of the artwork fell to Hays, "whose exuberant, curvilinear style perfectly captured the whimsy and energy of Gruelle's characters." Another artist/illustrator who did work for Saalfield was Frances Brundage. Brundage, who also did work for Raphael Tuck & Sons and other publishers, illustrated many classic works for children, and had widespread popularity; books with her illustrations are actively collected.

In April 1977, Saalfield Publishing Company shut down, and its library and archives were purchased by Kent State University. Provided by Wikipedia