Holiday House
Holiday House is a New York children's publisher founded in 1935 by Helen Gentry, Vernon Ives and Ted Johnson, the first American house devoted solely to children's books.
- Editions tracked
- 45
- First editions
- 40
- Books
- 44
- Years
- 1935 to 2018
Holiday House is a publisher based in New York City, founded in 1935. We track 45 editions it published between 1935 and 2018, 40 of them first editions across 44 books. Each book lists its first edition and the points that identify it.
About Holiday House
Holiday House is a New York children's book publisher founded in 1935, regarded as the first American publishing house set up to publish only children's books.
It was founded by the book designer Helen Gentry with Vernon Ives and Ted Johnson, with the aim of producing well-designed children's books in fine bindings. John Briggs bought the company in 1965 and kept it independent and family owned for about fifty years. Its history was written by the house author Russell Freedman in 1985 and revised by Barbara Elleman as Holiday House: The First Sixty-Five Years (2000).
Authors and illustrators associated with the list include Glen Rounds, Jim Kjelgaard, Leonard Everett Fisher, Tomie dePaola, Trina Schart Hyman, Eric Kimmel, Ann M. Martin, Russell Freedman, Gail Gibbons, David A. Adler, Polly Horvath and Yuyi Morales. Its books have won both the Newbery and Caldecott Medals.
In August 2016 Briggs sold Holiday House to a company formed by the investment firm Trustbridge Partners, and it now sits within Trustbridge Global Media alongside the Walker Books Group. In 2018 it launched its first editor-named imprints, Neal Porter Books and Margaret Ferguson Books, and it publishes about 120 titles a year, including the I Like to Read series for early readers.
We have not yet written the guide to Holiday House's first-edition conventions. Until we do, check each book's own page: we list its points where we know them. Know how Holiday House marked its firsts? Tell us.
Published by Holiday House
Frequently asked questions
How many Holiday House books does MyVolumes track?
We track 45 editions published by Holiday House, 40 of them first editions, across 44 books.
Where these facts come from
- Holiday House, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Our Story, Holiday House (holidayhouse.com)
- Holiday House Changes Hands; Briggs Retires, Publishers Weekly, 2016 (publishersweekly.com)
- Helen Gentry Papers, Online Archive of California (oac.cdlib.org)
- Holiday House: The First Sixty-Five Years, BTSB, 2003 (btsb.com)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 17 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.