Alan C. Hood & Co., Inc. began publishing books in 1982 while Mr. Hood was handling sales and marketing for The Countryman Press in Woodstock, Vermont. He incorporated in 1989 and set the firm up as a separate entity in 1991. In addition to publishing books, the company began handling national distribution for a number of independent presses. The firm moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in 1995, and moved the inventory to Maple Press Distribution Center in York, PA. Since then the firm has grown in place along with its family of distributed presses.

Mr. Hood is the third generation of the Hood family in the book business. His grandfather began his lifelong career in the Baker & Taylor Company in 1893, and his father worked at B & T throughout his career until his retirement in 1966. Mr. Hood worked in the stockroom of B & T as a summer job in 1956, so he marks 2006 as his fiftieth year in the business, not counting the interruptions of education and service in the US Army.

After graduating from Williams College in 1962, Mr. Hood began working for G. P. Putnam’s Sons in New York as a salesman. He credits his years at the David McKay Co. (now part of Random House) in New York during the 1970s as providing his training in all aspects of publishing and distribution, and he was Vice-President, Sales, when he left the firm.

Mr. Hood believes that traditional books are here to stay and will not be supplanted by any developments in the world of electronic communications. “If all we had were computers and the internet, and then the printing press was invented, the computer people would have to adjust to the reality of printing ink on paper, its cost-effectiveness, and its obvious necessity for any long-term archival purposes.” states Mr. Hood.

The publishing program of Alan C. Hood & Co., Inc. reflects Mr. Hood’s interest in history, rural concerns, and a sustainable way of life.