Successor Eric Oey Founder Charles E. Tuttle Number of employees 18 (estimated, 2013) | Publication types Books Founded 1948 | |
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Parent company Periplus Publishing Group Country of origin United States of America Key people Michael Sargent (Manager) Revenue USD $2.5–$5 million (estimated, 2010) Headquarters location Clarendon, Vermont, United States | ||
Tuttle Publishing, originally the Charles E. Tuttle Company, is a book publishing company that includes Tuttle, Periplus Editions, and Journey Editions. A company profile describes it as an "International publisher of innovative books on design, cooking, martial arts, language, travel and spirituality with a focus on China, Japan and South East Asia." Many of its books on Asian martial arts, particularly those on Japanese martial arts, were the first widely read publications on these subjects in the English language.
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History
Publisher and book dealer Charles E. Tuttle (1915–1993) founded the company in 1948 in Tokyo, Japan, with the aim of publishing "books to span the East and West." It was the 31st corporation approved by the occupying Allied administration. In its first year of operation, the company imported and distributed U.S. paperback publications to the occupying forces, and the next year, it released its first publication. From 1951, it published many books on the Japanese language, arts, and culture, as well as translations of Japanese works into the English language.
In 1953, part of the company was separated to form a new, partially owned company, Yohan, which took on responsibility for distributing U.S. paperback books and magazines. The Charles E. Tuttle Company retained responsibility for distributing UK publications. In 1991, under chief executive Peter Ackroyd, a planned acquisition of the Atlantic Monthly Press failed to eventuate. According to executives, "Tuttle, which specializes in Japanese and other Asian books, came to feel that it was putting its existing business at risk by acquiring Atlantic." In 1996, the company changed its name to Tuttle Publishing.
Since its founding, Tuttle has published more than 6,000 books and today maintains an active backlist of around 2,000 titles. The company now produces 150 new titles each year, most of which still focus on the areas of Asian interest that Tuttle has long been known for—everything from Asian literature and language learning to cooking, art, crafts, and design.
Founder
The company’s founder, Charles Egbert Tuttle, Jr., was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University. He enlisted in the U.S. military and was stationed in Japan immediately after World War II, working on General Douglas MacArthur’s staff. His job, among other things, was to help revive the Japanese publishing industry after the war. After his military service was completed, he decided to stay on in Japan and set up his own business importing English-language books and magazines and exporting rare Japanese antiquarian books to U.S. libraries.
Tuttle came from a distinguished New England publishing family. His father ran Tuttle Antiquarian Books—one of several Tuttle companies in Rutland that had been involved with printing and publishing since the 1830s. At university, he studied American history and literature. After graduating in 1937, he worked in the library of Columbia University for a year, then joined the family business. His interest in publishing 'quality' books about Japan and Asia, and his keen eye for design and editorial matters as a publisher, grew out of an appreciation for the valuable antiquarian books that he dealt with as a youth.
Current status
Tuttle's current publisher and CEO is Singapore resident Eric Oey. Oey is a nephew of Charles E. Tuttle.
According to UNESCO (2002, 2007), Tuttle Publishing is the most active publisher of books teaching Japanese to the English-speaking world, and English to the Japanese-speaking world. The company has also published books on Tagalog. The company publishes more than 40 products that teach Chinese, 20 that teach Korean, 20 for Indonesian, and numerous products on other Asian languages such as Burmese, Cambodian, Lao, Malay, Thai, and Vietnamese. Tuttle published its first Arabic phrasebook in 2004 and, in 2009, its first introduction to Modern Standard Hindi.
In 2010, out of the company's top 20 best-selling books, 11 were martial arts titles. Tuttle Publishing had estimated annual sales of $2.5–$5 million U.S., and a staff of around 40 people. It had offices in North Clarendon (in Vermont, USA), Singapore, Tokyo, and Jakarta. Leading officers are in the U.S. are Michael Sargent (General Manager), David Loseby (Finance Executive), and Christopher Johns (Sales & Marketing Director).
In September, 2012, Tuttle announced that it would move its fulfillment operation to Simon & Schuster, resulting in the layoff of 16 employees in its Vermont operation. By late 2013, subsequent departures left a staff of 18.