David McKay (June 24, 1860 – November 20, 1918) was a Scottish American publisher, head of David McKay Publications, which published books of all kinds, including early examples of comic books.
By the age of 21, McKay was placed in charge of the miscellaneous catalog of books by publisher Rees Welsh.
McKay’s notoriety as a publisher actually began while still working for Rees Welsh & Co., by bringing out Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass when another publisher, James R. Osgood & Co., had thrown it out because of threatened legal action by the attorney-general of Massachusetts for its “alleged immorality.” In September 1882, with $500 of his own money and $2,500 in borrowed money and notes, McKay began his own publishing company on South 9th Street in Philadelphia.
At age 25, McKay published the first collected set of Shakespeare's works in the United States.
His son Alexander would follow in his father’s shoes by taking over the house to go on to publish Walt Disney's first Mickey Mouse comics, the Blondie and Dagwood comic series, and numerous other notable works.