In 1890, Captain W.G. Shellabear arrived in Singapore to establish a printing press known as the Amelia Bishop Press.The aim of the publishing venture was the printing of Christian literature, and eventually, the setting and printing of secular work was taken up.
In 1900, Rev. William T. Cherry arrived and helped turn the foundations built by Shellabear into a multi-faceted organisation - printing, publishing, bookselling, and book distribution. The American Mission Press changed name to the Publishing House in 1906, from which the acronym MPH was derived.
The company became a public stock company in 1927 with an experienced Board of Directors and the Publishing House was officially incorporated as Malaya Publishing House Limited. In 1963 the Malaya Publishing House changed its name to Malaysia Publishing House and began operating as a wholesale book department.
In 2002, the MPH brand with its book retail and book distribution arm, MPH Bookstores and MPH Distributors respectively, was bought over by a Malaysian company, Jalinan Inspirasi Sdn Bhd.It is part of a large Malaysian conglomerate owned by Malaysian businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary. For the first time, MPH becomes a wholly Malaysian-owned company.