Langenscheidt Acquires Hammond Brand

Posted on March 2, 1999

The assets of Hammond Inc., a map publishing company, have been acquired by Langenscheidt Publishers Inc. The completion of the transaction was announced today by Stuart Dolgins, President, Langenscheidt Publishers Inc.

Since 1900, Hammond has been operated by four generations of its founding family. As part of the Langenscheidt Publishing Group, Hammond fortuitously becomes part of another publishing legacy. Langenscheidt KG, headquartered in Munich, Germany, was founded in 1856 and is now run by its fourth generation as well, namely, Chairman, Andreas Langenscheidt.

The 98-year old Hammond, celebrated for its old world tradition of cartography, has enjoyed a reputation in recent years for its advances in mapmaking technology. In 1992, it published the world's first completely digitized world atlas: The Hammond Atlas of the World.

"Not only are we proud to add the Hammond brand to our product line, but we eagerly anticipate working with its unique computerized worldwide geographic database," comments Dolgins. "Thanks to its technological abilities and proprietary software, Hammond is the only map publisher in the world that offers a full range of digital political and physical maps."

"The acquisition provides American Map with the superb world atlases that complement our product line and will allow us to compete more vigorously. We plan to apply our business and marketing skills to enhance the value of the Hammond brand name, making it even stronger into the next century," Dolgins adds.