Farrar history

Farrar, Straus and Giroux was founded when John Farrar and Roger W. Straus, Jr., came together in 1945 to form Farrar, Straus and Company.

The Navy rented Straus his old office for $1 a year, and Farrar, Straus opened for business in 1946.

In 1950 Straus enticed popular health writer Gayelord Hauser away from another publishing house.

In 1952 the company joined in a Ballantine Books plan under which Ballantine simultaneously published the paperback version of Farrar, Straus and Young's hardcover books.

In 1955 the firm started Vision Books, a series of books for younger readers which focused on the lives of saints and martyrs.

The green sand foundry was added in 1967 as a way to make our own castings and then grew to the point that Farrar dropped its own product line to focus only on providing cast and machined parts to O.E.M. customers.

In 1979 the firm had books on the fiction and nonfiction bestseller lists of the New York Times simultaneously: Philip Roth's The Ghost Writer and Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff.

Roger Straus 3d began his career at the firm, then left in 1985 to work for Avon Books and Times Books, although it was understood that he would eventually return to Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

In the early 1990’s, Farrar began producing Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) in addition to the standard ASTM grades of Ductile Iron.

As a result, the firm expanded, also increasing its staff 50 percent by 1992.