Egmont Publishing

Egmont Publishing is the current publisher of the Railway Series books and has the rights to release other kinds of Thomas and Friends books, including the My Thomas Story Library and Thomas Story Time ranges.

About the company
Egmont Books was started more than 130 years ago. From a fairytale that began in a little humble apartment on 15 May 1878 in Copenhagen, Egmont has developed into the media house it is today and a leading provider of entertainment in Scandinavia with operations in over 21 countries.

In the early years, Egmont remained a printing business but soon came to include creating and telling stories.

A dream comes true as the 17 year old Egmont Harald Petersen, with a loan on his mother’s assets, buys a ‘flyswatter’ - a hand operated, simple printing machine - to start his one man business. Egmont’s ability to think along new lines and to innovate has the full backing of his mother Petrine who mortgages her own lifeline, her sewing machine, to enable her son to realise his dream.

On the very day Egmont H. is heading into town to pick up the first equipment for his printing shop, he finds a coin. This coin proved to be Egmont’s lucky charm and is today kept at the Head Office in Copenhagen.

Already in 1880 there is not enough room in his mother's kitchen and during the following years the printing operation moves to ever bigger facilities. Egmont H. buys more machinery, hires more employees and becomes known across Denmark as a clever young printer who delivers quality products. To keep up with technology in the typographic industry, Egmont H. frequently travels abroad and is breaking new ground in printing methods until his passing. In 1892 Egmont H. prints the first colour picture in Denmark. It is also during this time that Egmont H. is given the nick name “ArtPetersen”. He is recognised in the industry for his fine work and is awarded the honourable title of Printers to the Royal Danish Court, a distinction still held by the company today.