Arcadia to acquire New Orleans publisher

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Arcadia Publishing, the Mount Pleasant-based publisher of local history books, has agreed to acquire the majority of assets from a New Orleans publisher.

Pelican Publishing, a publisher of books about New Orleans and Louisiana, was founded in 1926 and has a catalog of more than 2,000 titles, including the children’s holiday book Cajun Night Before Christmas.

Arcadia’s acquisition is expected to close in May.

“We could not be more pleased to have found the right long-term home for Pelican,” said Kathleen Calhoun Nettleton, Pelican president and publisher, in a news release.

Nettleton, whose family acquired Pelican in 1970, will continue to work for the publisher after the acquisition.

The acquisition was announced less than a month after bestselling author Walter Isaacson, who is based in New Orleans, joined Arcadia as editor-at-large and special adviser.

“Books about local history and culture are crucial to enhancing the fabric of American life,” Isaacson said in the news release. “As a child growing up in New Orleans, I loved many of Pelican’s titles, so it is especially meaningful to have them as part of the Arcadia family.”