Cokesbury is the retail division of the United Methodist Publishing House. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Cokesbury serves as an agency of the United Methodist Church but serves also as an ecumenical resource provider to other denominations. Origins The history of the United Methodist Publishing House dates back officially to 1789 as its colophon and official trademark bear testimony. Unofficially, however, there were prior efforts in American Methodist publishing as far back as 1740. By 1775, American printers had issued over 300 distinctly Methodist publications, though largely without John Wesley's own approval. The most systematic printing of Methodist resources came under the actions of Robert Williams, a British preacher who had recently come to America for a fresh start in 1769. The controversy surround the printing and selling of Methodist resources in America under Williams helped solidify the need for a Methodist publishing and distribution policy and in America, as was in London. At the American Methodist conference in 1775 Thomas Rankin, under the approval of Wesley, oversaw the development of a Methodist material circulation plan, though this was designed exclusively for imported Methodist materials from England. Despite this plan's initial success, his exodus from America in 1778 during the Revolutionary War led to its ultimate dissolve in 1782 under Francis Asbury. The termination of Rankin's circulation plan coincided with a new publishing plan which would ultimately become the official American Methodist publishing line. In 1774 John Dickins joined the Methodist movement and quickly became one of the leading Methodist preachers in America. Because of Dickins' education, skill, and platform in America, Francis Asbury befriended Dickins probably in part because of publishing potential. Though Asbury was never directly involved in Methodist publishing, his influence in its development is realized in the UMPH and Cokesbury icon, which shows Asbury as a circuit rider. As it turns out, in 1783 Dickins sold his wife's dower land and in 1784, Dickins helped found the Methodist Episcopal Church which elected Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury as the first Bishops. In 1789 Dickens used some of the money from the sale of the dower land to establish the "Methodist Book Concern" for the publication and distribution of Methodist materials. It was an immediate success and the Methodist Book Concern became the main publisher and distributor of Methodist materials in America. Indeed, as the UMPH and Cokesbury seal give testimony to, Methodist circuit riders purchased items from