In the past, Hippocrene has published books on folklore, translations of classic literature, children's dictionaries, and travel guides.

The publishing side grew out of Optimum Book Marketing, established in 1970 by Polish immigrant George Blagowidow.

Hippocrene was started by George Blagowidow,[2] who was born in Poland to Russian parents and survived the Nazi occupation to escape communist Europe in 1945.

[2] He worked at Doubleday, Macmillan, and Reader's Digest before starting his own publishing company with Hippocrene’s first list in spring 1972, featuring European literary classics in translation, including The Doll by Polish novelist Bolesław Prus.

[2] As of 2008, Hippocrene has published in over 112 languages, including Polish-interest books such as Quo Vadis by Nobel Prize-winning novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz.