Tilbury House, Publishers, Gardiner, Maine, was sold on March 22 by longtime owner Neil Rolde to Jonathan Eaton and Tristram Coburn, founders of Cadent Publishing, who plan to grow both imprints.
For 25 years, Eaton was publisher of the International Marine line of boating books under McGraw-Hill, and Coburn began his editorial career 19 years ago at Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books. After returning to Maine, Coburn was a McGraw-Hill acquisitions editor before founding the Tristram C. Coburn Literary Management agency.
Founded 40 years ago, Tilbury House began publishing regional nonfiction, then expanded to include children's books, and continues to publish books about Maine and New England history and culture. Rolde had owned Tilbury House since 1982.
"I'm looking forward to working with Jon and Tris," Tilbury House publisher Jennifer Bunting said. "We'll stay in Gardiner for now, with our present staff, and we'll be concentrating on acquiring new children's books and regional titles." The company will be issuing Tilbury titles as e-books, too.