George M. Hill Company

George M. Hill Company was an American publishing company based in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1893 by George M. Hill, who learned the book-binding trade through an apprenticeship.^[1]

In 1901, the company's main offerings were children's novels authored by L. Frank Baum. It sold Dot and Tot of Merryland and American Fairy Tales and also acquired the right to republish Mother Goose in Prose in "popular-priced form".^[2]

The company also published a reprint of the 1847 edition of Webster's Dictionary, which was out of copyright. In 1902, it purchased the right from the G. & C. Merriam Company (now called Merriam-Webster) to publish the 1864 unabridged edition of the dictionary with an additional 10,000 words from the 1879 version.^[3]

Compelled to declare bankruptcy in March 1902, the company had, a few weeks earlier, decided to enlarge its operations and erect a new building. On April 26, Robert O. Law was selected by the court to be the interim trustee. Law authorized the selling of George M. Hill Company's property. On March 29, Publishers Weekly reported the sale of hundreds of plates^{[note 1]} and juvenile books, including books that had yet to be published and Baum's works. Despite Hill's attempts to repossess his company, the George W. Ogilvie Company was established on May 8 to manage its holdings. Having purchased Hill's manufacturing plant, C. O. Owen & Co. resold it to the Hill Bindery Company, which was newly created and managed by George Hill.^[4]

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