Letter from Agatha Christie
This letter from Agatha Christie (here signing with her second married name, Mallowan) shows the close relationship she had with Collins publisher Billy Collins. More
Profiles in Courage
Pulitzer Prize winner that helped propel the young senator to the White House. More
George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans, born in 1819, led a turbulent life that often broke with Victorian social norms. More
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
While giving a talk to a group of men and women about relationships, author John Gray realized he had a hook for a new book. More
1860: Harper & Brothers enters into the crime fiction genre
Harper & Brothers pay Wilkie Collins £750 for The Woman in White, which heralds the firm's entry into the crime fiction genre. More
Letter from Garth Williams regarding illustrations for the Little House series
When acclaimed illustrator Garth Williams was commissioned to create new illustrations for Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, he traveled west to see the actual sites Wilder referred to in her writings and to meet Laura herself. More
Barbara Taylor Bradford
When I say I have the need to write, I do mean need. More
1923: The Harper Prize Novel is introduced as a competition to discover unknown authors…
The Harper Prize Novel is introduced as a competition to discover unknown authors, and receives more than 700 submissions in its first year. The first winner, The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson, is later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (1924). More
The Tiger Who Came to Tea
The beloved multimillion-copy-selling British picture book no childhood should be without. More
1871: Harper’s Weekly serializes Middlemarch by Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot)
Harper’s Weekly serializes Middlemarch by Mary Ann Evans, who worked under the male pseudonym George Eliot. More
1937: Harper & Brothers publishes This Is My Story by Eleanor Roosevelt…
Harper & Brothers publishes This Is My Story by Eleanor Roosevelt. More
The Giving Tree
Poignant, game-changing picture book for readers of all ages that has been a favorite for generations. More
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World
One of Harper & Brothers’ most famous and influential authors was Aldous Huxley, who signed with the publisher in 1927 and published his first book, Texts and Pretexts, with them in 1932. More
Brochure from the 2009 celebration of Debbie Macomber’s fictional town of Cedar Cove
In August 2009, the real town of Port Orchard, Washington (bestselling romance author Debbie Macomber’s hometown), turned itself into Macomber’s fictional town of Cedar Cove for five days... More
Periodicals: Harper’s Weekly, Harper’s New Monthly and Harper’s Bazaar
The Harper brothers consistently sought ways to reach more readers with less expensive publications, and in 1850 they revolutionized the concept of the modern literary magazine with Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. More
Herman Melville and Moby-Dick
Harper & Brothers turned down Herman Melville’s first book, Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, and it was released to strong sales by another publisher. More
Beezus and Ramona
Newbery Medal winner; humorous and beloved tale of the ups and downs of sisterhood. More
Stuart Little
White’s beloved classic about a small mouse on a big adventure is a perennial bestseller. More
1895: Mark Twain signs an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers
Mark Twain signs an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, which serializes Joan of Arc in its periodicals and publishes it as a book one year later. More
Science Fiction & Fantasy
HarperCollins’s connections to nascent science fiction and fantasy worlds began with works such as Edward Lytton Bulwer’s The Coming Race (1871), and H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) and The Invisible Man (1898). More
Where the Wild Things Are
This winner of the 1964 Caldecott Medal changed the face of children’s literature. More
Social Change: Thomas Nast, Illustrator
Illustrator Thomas Nast first made his name documenting the Civil War in all its gruesome reality, but he is best known for developing the political cartoon form and our modern depictions of Santa Claus. More
Sabriel
A revolutionary story that made Nix a rising star in the fantasy genre. More
To Kill a Mockingbird
When J. B. Lippincott (later acquired by HarperCollins) editor Therese (Tay) von Hohoff saw the first draft of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), she saw a promising story, but one in need of some reshaping and editing. More
The Inklings
Clive Staples Lewis (better known as C. S. Lewis) loved nothing more than sitting in the back room of his favorite pub, The Eagle and Child, surrounded by his closest literary friends, including J. R. R. Tolkien. More
1956: Harper & Brothers publishes Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy…
Harper & Brothers publishes Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy, which wins the Pulitzer Prize in 1957 and helps propel the young senator to the White House. More
Our Town
Pulitzer Prize–winning drama; hailed by Edward Albee as “The finest play ever written by an American.” More