Binford & Mort
| Status | Active |
|---|---|
| Gegründet | 1930 |
| Gründer | Maurice M. Binford Peter Binford |
| Country of origin | Vereinigte Staaten |
| Headquarters location | Hillsboro, Oregon 45°31′45″N 122°55′54″W / 45.5292905°N 122.9316473°W |
| Publication types | Books |
| Nonfiction topics | Pacific Northwest history |
| Fiction genres | Non-fiction |
Binford & Mort is a book publishing company located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1930, the company was previously known as Metropolitan Press and Binfords & Mort. At one time they were the largest book publisher in the Pacific Northwest. The privately owned company focuses on books from the Pacific Northwest, and has printed many important titles covering Oregon’s history.
History
Maurice M. Binford was born in Indiana in 1878, but moved to Oregon in 1884 after his parents died.[1] In Oregon he moved in with a sister and her husband, Frank Lee.[1] Later Maurice and his brother Peter moved to Portland and worked for Lee at Lee’s company, Metropolitan Printing Company.[1] In 1901, the brothers purchased the printing company from Lee.[1] Maurice served as the company’s secretary and treasurer in the early years.[1]
In 1920, Ralph Mort, their nephew, was added to the company.[1] They established a publishing company in 1930 under the name of Metropolitan Press, and published Northwest books, primarily history titles.[2] Some of these books were re-prints of titles that were no longer protected by copyright, while others were new titles by Oregon authors.[2] Early authors included Thomas Nelson Strong, Charles Henry Carey, Howard McKinley Corning, and Frederic Homer Balch among others.[2] The company became the first large publisher in Oregon.[2]
During the Great Depression, the company acquired the rights to print the guidebooks created by the Works Progress Administration’s Writers Project for Utah, Washington, Nevada, and Oregon, which proved very profitable.[2] In 1938, the Binfords changed the named to Binfords & Mort after taking on Ralph Mort as a new partner in the business.[1] Publishing house William Morrow and Company suggested this name change as they wanted a more original name as they took on national distribution of the Binfords’ titles.[2]
Maurice died in 1954,[1] and Peter retired from the company by 1957.[2] The name was then changed to Binford & Mort with Thomas Binford taking over for his father Maurice.[2] From its founding until about 1960 the company’s publications did much to promote works and authors from the Pacific Northwest.[2][3] By 1957, they were the largest book publisher in the Northwest and had more than 350 titles.[1]
After the older Binfords left, Thomas failed to maintain the quality of the editorial process for new books.[2] Thus, even though Binford & Mort averaged ten new titles a year, the quality suffered.[2] By 1980, the company had moved to Salem.[4] Thomas died in 1983 and Binford & Mort was purchased by the Gardiniers of Hillsboro.[2]
By 1996 they had relocated to Portland,[5] and by 2000 Binford & Mort was in Hillsboro.[6] By that time P. L. Gardenier served as editor and they focused on works of non-fiction,[7] while also printing books for self-publishers.[6] Today the company still publishes some new titles, and continues to re-print its older titles.[2] Described as “Portland's most venerable general trade publisher,”[8] many of the works they published are considered to be definitive books on their topics. These include Oregon Geographic Names by Lewis A. McArthur, A General History of Oregon by Charles Henry Carey, Howard McKinley Corning’s Dictionary of Oregon History, History of Oregon Literature by Alfred Powers, and George S. Turnbull’s History of Oregon Newspapers.[2][9]
Selected titles
- Balch, Frederic Homer (1965). Bridge of the Gods. Binfords & Mort. OCLC 1834541.
- Frank, Gerry (1980). Gerry Frank's Where to Find it, Buy it, Eat it, and Save Time and Money in New York. Binford & Mort. ISBN 0832303569.
- Gibbs, James A. (1955). Sentinels of the North Pacific. Binfords & Mort. OCLC 431414548.[10]
- Snyder, Eugene E. (1989). We Claimed This Land: Portland's Pioneer Settlers. Binford & Mort. ISBN 0832304719.[8]
- Strong, Thomas Nelson (1906). Cathlamet on the Columbia. Binfords & Mort. OCLC 5780594.[2]
- Tetlow, Roger T. (1990). The Story of a Pioneer Columbia River Salmon Packer. Binford & Mort. ISBN 0832304786.
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References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Corning, Howard M. (1989) Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing. pp. 28, 32.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Skinner, Jeremy. Binford and Mort. The Oregon Encyclopedia. Portland State University.
- ^ Babcock, Frederic. (December 22, 1957.) “Western Empire Builder”, Chicago Daily Tribune, p. B6.
- ^ Burrors, Marian. (April 27, 1980.) 'Find It, Buy It, Eat It', The Washington Post, p. K5.
- ^ "Book Publishers". The Writer. Vol. 109 (7): 19–45. July 1996. ISSN 0043-9517.
{{cite journal}}:|volume=has extra text (help) - ^ a b Smith, Jill (December 28, 2000). "West Zoner: It's all reported in her autobiography". The Oregonian. p. 8.
- ^ "Book Publishers". The Writer. Vol. 113 (7). Anchorage Press: 18–46. July 2000. ISSN 0043-9517.
{{cite journal}}:|volume=has extra text (help) - ^ a b Pintarich, Paul (November 21, 1989). "NW Pages: Portland publisher aids literacy campaign". The Oregonian. p. C4.
- ^ "George Turnbull To Be in Eugene". Register-Guard. December 4, 1950. p. 14. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
- ^ "Vacations for the handicapped". St. Petersburg Times. July 2, 1989. p. 6E.
- ^ Pintarich, Paul (December 2, 1990). "North by Northwest stories". The Oregonian. p. E2.