Mercier Press

The company was founded in 1944 by Seán Feehan, and initially published religious books. In 1946 they published This Tremendous Lover by Dom Eugene Boylan which sold over a million copies. At the Frankfurt Book Fair Feehan secured the translation rights of German books on philosophy and religion that sold well. In the 1960s they launched a successful range of paperbacks on Irish literature, culture, religion and history.[4]

Feehan remained chairman until his death in 1991, after which John Spillane took over until 2003, when Clodagh Feehan was appointed manager director.[4]

In the 1960s and 1970s the Mercier paperback books had a distinctive cover style.[5] This usually consisted of an illustration, in both pen & ink and brush & ink, and always in two colour. The format and back cover layout remained the same on each book. The artist John Skelton (1925-2009) was Mercier’s main cover designer – he worked as an art director and book illustrator before concentrating full-time on painting in 1975.