About

Douglas & McIntyre 

Douglas & McIntyre is one of Canada’s pre-eminent independent trade publishers, with bestselling books that have won many national and international awards, including the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award.

Since its inception Douglas & McIntyre has sought to publish voices from under represented communities and identities in Canada and the press continues to strive for inclusiveness in its program. We publish predominately Canadian authors. 

 

History

The company, originally called J.J. Douglas Ltd. and co-founded by Jim Douglas and Scott McIntyre, was established in 1970 and published its first title in the fall of 1971.

In 1980, the company formed an innovative alliance with Patsy Aldana and Groundwood Books, the leading children's publisher. In that same year Jim Douglas retired and Scott McIntyre became President, CEO, and majority shareholder.

Rob Sanders joined the company in 1988 and spearheaded the launch of the Greystone Books imprint in 1993. That list features bestselling environmental, sports and outdoors titles sold to publishing houses around the world.

In 2005, Groundwood Books assets were sold to the House of Anansi.

In 2007 Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.’s majority shares were sold to a new ownership group headed by Mark Scott. Mr. Scott became President and Scott McIntyre retained his positions of Chairman and CEO.

In June 2008, the Gabriola Island-based eco-publisher New Society Publishers was acquired by D&M.

In October 2008, the company underwent a rebranding to become D&M Publishers Inc. - the parent company of three distinct imprints: Douglas & McIntyre, Greystone Books, and New Society Publishing.

In 2011, D&M celebrated an impressive 40 years in the business.

A new chapter in British Columbian publishing began in 2013, when Scott McIntyre retired and his historic Douglas & McIntyre imprint was acquired by Howard and Mary White, owners of Harbour Publishing, who reorganized it as Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd. Greystone Books was split off and acquired by Heritage House Publishing, Rob Sanders and others, who reformed the imprint into a new company, Greystone Books Ltd. New Society was reacquired by its founders, Chris and Judith Plant and partner Carol Newell.

 

From time to time we get a question about the Douglas & McIntyre logo depicting a stylized bull. Wags have been known to speculate that it is a warning about the veracity of D&M publications. In fact it is a reproduction of a much-admired 9th century petroglyph recovered from the ruins of a Pictish fort near the town of Burghead in Scotland. The image is well known in the region, where it is often seen on postcards, t-shirts, jewellery etc. It was chosen by the press’s founders, two proud Scotsmen named Jim Douglas and Scott McIntyre. In a 2014 letter to D&M publisher Howard White, Mr. McIntyre explained how they came to select the image when they were reorganizing Mr. Douglas’s original company, J.J. Douglas in 1970: “We had agreed to change the name of the company to Douglas & McIntyre but what to choose as a logo perplexed us and the decision dragged on. Jim and I both wanted something that was not regional; and was not necessarily Canadian; a device that suggested the broader world of mainstream publishing. So we went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Finally, in desperation, we were having a breakfast in North Vancouver, and Jim, almost embarrassingly, said, "Look." He pulled out a tourist souvenir his wife Heather picked up in Edinburgh showing a rubbing of the Burghead bull, saying that he had liked the idea but thought that I would hate it for being too Scottish. I loved it immediately, and given that Jim was an aries and I am a taurus, we made the decision on the spot. It has nice lines (we excised some of them along the way to make a sleeker bull). That's how it happened, and I remain very proud of that device, which has endured some 40 years now."