Jean-François Millet
Le Semeur (The Sower)
Simon & Schuster logo, circa 1961.
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Simon & Schuster is a publishing house founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and Max Schuster, notable for its publication of Crossword puzzle books.
Crossword puzzles first appeared in the New York World in 1913. By 1924, they had been a weekly feature for many years. According to Frederick Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's Simon's aunt, a crossword devotee, asked him whether there was a book of these puzzles that she could give to a friend. Simon discovered that none had been published, and, with Schuster, launched a company to exploit the opportunity.
Their first book was marketed cleverly. To attract attention, it came with a pencil attached to it. Their advertising campaign implied that it was about to become a new fad:
- 1921—Coué
- 1922—Mah Jong
- 1923—Bananas
- 1924—THE CROSSWORD-PUZZLE BOOK
The ad proved prophetic, and crossword puzzles were indeed the craze of 1924.
Simon & Schuster soon became a publisher of books of all kinds, and currently publishes over two thousand titles annually under thirty five different imprints.
In 1939, with Robert Fair de Graff, Simon & Schuster founded Pocket Books, America's first paperback publisher.
Simon & Schuster continues to be the preeminent U. S. publisher of crossword puzzle books.
Simon & Schuster is currently a division of media giant Viacom International Inc.
The familiar Simon & Schuster logotype is based on Millet's seminal painting "The Sower."
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