Coward, McCann & Geoghegan
Coward, McCann & Geoghegan was a New York publisher founded in 1928 as Coward-McCann, owned by Putnam from 1936 and known for children's books and US editions of British authors.
- Editions tracked
- 38
- First editions
- 32
- Books
- 38
- Years
- 1971 to 1982
Coward, McCann & Geoghegan is a publisher based in New York City. We track 38 editions it published between 1971 and 1982, 32 of them first editions across 38 books. Each book lists its first edition and the points that identify it.
About Coward, McCann & Geoghegan
Coward, McCann & Geoghegan was a New York trade publisher, founded in 1928 as Coward-McCann, that ran as an autonomous division of G. P. Putnam's Sons and issued American editions of books such as William Golding's Lord of the Flies.
Thomas Coward and James McCann had both worked at Bobbs-Merrill before setting up their own firm in 1928. That same year it published Wanda Gág's picture book Millions of Cats in New York. In 1933 the partners bought the publishing department of Brentano's, and in 1936 Putnam acquired the company while leaving it to run as a separate division.
John Geoghegan joined as editor-in-chief in 1959, became president in 1961 and later chairman, and the house took his name as Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. He and the literary scout Lena Wickman are credited with discovering John le Carré's The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. The firm's 1955 edition of Lord of the Flies was the first American edition, following Faber and Faber's London first of 1954.
Geoghegan stepped down as chairman in 1981, unhappy with the corporate, business-school approach he felt was taking hold of publishing. Putnam kept the name going as an imprint into the 1980s. Putnam joined the Penguin Group in 1996 to form Penguin Putnam, and Penguin merged with Random House in 2013 to create Penguin Random House.
We have not yet written the guide to Coward, McCann & Geoghegan's first-edition conventions. Until we do, check each book's own page: we list its points where we know them. Know how Coward, McCann & Geoghegan marked its firsts? Tell us.
Authors
Series
Published by Coward, McCann & Geoghegan
Frequently asked questions
How many Coward, McCann & Geoghegan books does MyVolumes track?
We track 38 editions published by Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 32 of them first editions, across 38 books.
Where these facts come from
- Coward-McCann, Series of Series (seriesofseries.com)
- John Geoghegan, Wikipedia, 2026 (en.wikipedia.org)
- G. P. Putnam's Sons (Coward-McCann redirect), Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág, Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org)
- Lord of the Flies, first American edition, The First Edition Rare Books (thefirstedition.com)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 18 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.