Stemmer House Publishers, founded in 1975 by Barbara Holdridge, has been acquired by Pathway Book Service. Headquartered in Gilsum, N.H., Pathway provides warehousing and fulfillment services for small presses and has been handling those functions for Stemmer since the late 1970s. Holdridge said she felt "the time was right" to get out of the business, adding that she received "a nice offer" from Pathway.
Stemmer has approximately 130 active titles, a figure that includes spoken-word audio titles. Included in the purchase is the right to the Stemmer House Publishers name. The company is best known for its children's books and the International Design Library line, a series of sourcebooks for artists and others in the creative field. Stemmer has also published gardening books and biographies.
Ernest Peter, president of Pathway and now publisher of Stemmer House, said that going forward Pathway will focus on the children's line, International Design series and a third series that he described as "notable books that have gone out of print." He expects to publish six new titles this year as well as reprinting some International Design books that have been out of stock. Holdridge will finish editing books that she has already acquired and will also continue to recommend new children's titles. Peter said he has admired the quality of the Stemmer line and believes that with the additional marketing resources Pathway can provide the imprint will have steady growth.
In addition to the Stemmer House imprint, Pathway owns Avocus Publishing. Launched in 1990, Avocus has a 17-title list aimed at the prep school market. Categories include ethics and life skills.
