American publishing company established in 1954 in New York by Arthur A. Cohen (of The Noonday Press). The company was acquired by the Cleveland-based The World Publishing Company in 1960, and it became an imprint.
The World Publishing Company was acquired by the Times Mirror in 1962. In 1974 Times Mirror sold most of World Publishing to Collins Publishers with the exception of the trade publishing which was under the New American Library (NAL) subsidiary, including Meridian Books. During the Times Mirror/NAL era is when "Meridian Books" became just "Meridian".
NAL was first acquired by Odyssey Partners and Ira J. Hechler in 1983, and then by the Penguin Publishing Company in 1986. As Meridian was an imprint of the Penguin Group still in the 1990s, it was most likely included in those acquisitions.
