
Avon Publications was a paperback book and comic book publisher. It today exists only as an imprint of HarperCollins.
Avon Books was founded in 1941 by the American News Corporation to create a rival to Pocket Books. They hired Joseph and Edna Meyers to establish the company. They bought out J.S. Ogilvie Publications, a pulp magazine publisher, and renamed it "Avon Publications". They also got into comic books.
Avon was bought by the Hearst Corporation in 1959. In 1999, the News Corporation bought Hearst's book division, and merged Avon with HarperCollins.
Avon now publishes only historical romance titles, though in the past it has published many genre works.