J. B. Lippincott & Co.

J. B. Lippincott & Co.
Company type	Private (formerly)
Industry	Publishing
Predecessor	Grigg, Elliot & Co. (acquired 1849)
Founded	January 1, 1836; 190 years ago in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Founder	Joshua Ballinger Lippincott
Defunct	1990
Fate	Acquired by Wolters Kluwer N.V.
Successor	Lippincott-Raven Publishers (merged later into Lippincott Williams & Wilkins)
Headquarters	Philadelphia, United States
Area served	International
Key people	Joshua Ballinger Lippincott (founder), Mary Martin Rogers (last president)
Products	Books, textbooks, journals, periodicals
Parent	Wolters Kluwer (from 1990)

J. B. Lippincott & Co. was a publishing firm based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, established in 1836 by Joshua Ballinger Lippincott. The company was formally incorporated as J. B. Lippincott Company in 1885.

19th century

At 23 years old, Joshua Ballinger Lippincott (March 18, 1813 – January 5, 1886) launched the business. The initial publications centered on Bibles and prayer books, but the firm soon broadened its scope to include history, biography, fiction, poetry, gift books, almanacs, as well as medical, legal, educational texts, and dictionaries.

In 1849, Lippincott expanded by acquiring Grigg, Elliot & Co., a prominent publisher and distributor with origins dating back to 1792. For a brief period between 1850 and 1855, the company operated under the name Lippincott, Grambo & Co., before reverting to its original designation and incorporating in 1878.

The company is noted for issuing the first nursing textbook in the United States in 1878 and initiating the American Journal of Nursing in 1900. By the close of the century, it had grown into one of the foremost and internationally recognized publishing houses. Its periodical Lippincott's Monthly Magazine was published from 1868 until 1914 across both American and British markets.

20th century

During the 20th century, Lippincott became a leading publisher of textbooks for elementary and secondary education alongside producing reference works, textbooks, and journals specializing in medicine and nursing. In 1961, it acquired A. J. Holman, a religious publisher based in the A.J. Holman and Company edifice.

In 1978, Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. purchased J. B. Lippincott Company. The subsequent year saw A. J. Holman sold to the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Lippincott’s divisions for trade books, juvenile literature, and school materials were integrated into Harper & Row’s operations; concurrently, its medical, nursing, and allied health publications merged with Harper’s to establish "J.B. Lippincott—the Health Professions Publisher of Harper & Row." In 1990, Wolters Kluwer N.V., headquartered in The Netherlands, acquired Lippincott. The company marked its bicentennial anniversary in 1992.

Wolters Kluwer combined Lippincott with its medical publishing branch Raven Press in 1996 to form Lippincott-Raven Publishers. Two years later, Wolters Kluwer purchased Williams & Wilkins and merged it with Lippincott-Raven to create Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

21st century

After a restructuring within Wolters Kluwer in 2002, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins ceased functioning as an independent entity; its brand names continue solely as publishing imprints under Wolters Kluwer Health.

Leadership

Presidents of J. B. Lippincott Company

Joshua Ballinger Lippincott (1885–1886)
Craige Lippincott (1886–1911)
J. Bertram Lippincott (1911–1926), Chairman (1926–1940)
Joseph Wharton Lippincott (1926–1949), Chairman (1949–1958)
Howard K. Bauernfeind (1949–1958), Chairman (1958–1973)
Joseph W. Lippincott Jr. (1958–1978), Chairman (1974–1978)
Barton H. Lippincott (1978–1981), Chairman (1981–1987)
Edward B. Hutton Jr. (1981–1983)
Lewis Reines (1985–1986)
Peter D. Nalle (1987–1990)
Alan M. Edelson (1990–1994)
Mary Martin Rogers (1995–1996)

Co-Presidents of Lippincott-Raven Publishers

Mary Martin Rogers and Joseph W. Lippincott III (1996–1998)

Co-Presidents of Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Edward B. Hutton Jr. and Joseph W. Lippincott III (1998–2000)
Jeffrey Smith and Tim Satterfield (2000–2002)

Distinguished Writers

External links

Overview of J. B. Lippincott Company at Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (archived)
"Joseph Wharton Lippincott, Jr." – ()—Memorial from Princeton University
J. B. Lippincott Company Records, Historical Society of Pennsylvania