Tuttle Publishing

American book publishing company

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 Southeast 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. It was the 31st corporation approved by the occupying Allied administration. 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." 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. Some of the company’s books state that it was founded in 1832 in Rutland, Vermont. George Albert Tuttle (1816 1885), a direct ancestor of Charles E. Tuttle, founded Tuttle Co. in 1832 in Rutland as a printing company that printed newspapers, later including the Rutland Herald. The multigenerational family printing business did not have a particular focus on Asian material. It thus remains open to debate whether 1832 represents the original founding of Tuttle Publishing, or whether the enterprise is, in the words of one author, the business of Charles E. Tuttle, "whose family had been in the book trade since 1832."

The company's founder, Charles Egbert Tuttle, Jr., was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University. His father, Charles E. Tuttle Sr., ran Tuttle Antiquarian Books—one of several Tuttle companies in Rutland, Vermont, that had been involved with printing and publishing since the 1830s. At university, he studied American history and literature. Many early Tuttle books remain in print today, such as Japanese Children's Favorite Stories (1954), The Book of Tea (1956) and Rashomon and Other Stories (1952). Tuttle is also the official publisher of the Bruce Lee Library, with permission from his estate. The company's bestselling books include Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible by Hitomi Shida, which has sold more than 60,000 copies since its release in 2017 and was in its fifth printing in 2018, Others include Cool Japan Guide by Abby Denson, North Korea Confidential by Daniel Tudor and James Pearson, and Geek in Japan by Hector Garcia. The company has also published books on Tagalog, Chinese, and, in 2009, its first introduction to Modern Standard Hindi. The editors work collaboratively with writers, illustrators, photographers and designers around the world. The company has a strong international network of distributors and booksellers—with Tuttle books distributed not only in North America and Asia, but from Europe to Australia and the Middle East to South Africa. Parent company Periplus Publishing Group has a bookstore chain in Indonesia with the same name (founded in 1985), which distributed and sold Tuttle books as well as books and magazines from other publishers. Singapore resident Eric Oey took over the company as publisher and CEO in 1996. Oey is a nephew of Charles E. Tuttle and the founder of Periplus Editions. Leading officers in the U. S. are Michael Sargent (Managing Director), David Loseby (CFO), and Christopher Johns (Sales & Marketing Director).

a. This is not the same person as the British author by the same name.