World BookReps

World Book is a Chicago-based educational publishing company whose history dates to 1917, when publishers J.H. Hanson and John Bellows introduced the first edition of The World Book. Working with educator Michael Vincent O'Shea, they developed an encyclopedia intended to be easier for children and families to understand than the more formal reference works then available. The original edition consisted of eight volumes and approximately 6,300 pages. W.F. Quarrie & Company acquired World Book in 1919, and the business later became part of Field Enterprises after Marshall Field III acquired Quarrie in 1945.