The company was founded in 1945 by Seán Sáirséal Ó hÉigeartaigh (1917–1967) and his wife Bríd Ní Mhaoileoin, with the help of a legacy left to him by his aunt, Elizabeth Dill Smyth.
The first book published was Tonn Tuile, by Séamus Ó Néill, on 30 September 1947.
The company quickly became the country's pioneering and most important Irish-language publishing house, and published such illustrious works as Máirtín Ó Cadhain’s Cré na Cille and the poetry of Seán Ó Ríordáin and Máire Mhac an tSaoi.
[2][3] Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh died at his place of work in the company on 14 June 1967.
His wife Bríd took over leadership of the business, and published another fifty books.