Casemate, the military book publisher and distributor based in Drexel Hill, Pa., has teamed up with the management of the U.K. companies Greenhill Books and Chatham Publishing to acquire the distribution and sales units of those businesses from Lionel Leventhal Ltd., which retains the Greenhill and Chatham names. The new U.K. operation, to be called Casemate UK will be led by Mark Wray.
David Farnsworth, who founded Casemate in 2001, said the deal gives the company a solid distribution presence in both the U.S. and the U.K. Casemate UK distributes about 20 military and art book publishers in the U.K., including about 10 U.S. publishers, among them Presidio Press and S&S Military. In the U.S., Casemate distributes for 32 military history publishers, and Farnsworth hopes some of those clients will join Casemate UK.
Beginning in January, Casemate UK will start its own publishing program, and Farnsworth plans to release about 20 titles next year, several of which will be released simultaneously in the U.S. and the U.K. Casemate's U.S. unit will publish about 25 titles this year, double the number it did in 2006.
