Michael Chabon
The first writer that I really fell in love with was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in particular his Sherlock Holmes stories, and the first story that I ever wrote was a Sherlock Holmes story. More
Jack Higgins
Why I write: Some years ago, although enjoying great success, I was accused by certain literary critics of repeating myself too much in my work. More
And Then There Were None
The bestselling crime novel of all time. More
1891: Harper & Brothers purchases rights to Conan Doyle’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes…
Enabled by the 1891 International Copyright Treaty, Harper & Brothers purchases the rights to Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 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
Moby-Dick
Often called the greatest American novel of all time. More
Wolf Hall
Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. More
Bring Up the Bodies
Winner of the Man Booker Prize and the first to win as a sequel. More
Two Years Before the Mast
An early landmark of adventure and travel writing, now considered one of America’s first literary classics. More
Anthony Doerr
We are all mapmakers: We embed our memories everywhere, inscribing a private and intensely complicated latticework across the landscape. More
Our Town
Pulitzer Prize–winning drama; hailed by Edward Albee as “The finest play ever written by an American.” More
Publishing Firsts: Collins Illustrated Pocket Classics
At the turn of the century, William Collins III combined innovative packaging and distribution with innovative aesthetics by creating shilling-priced illustrated paperbacks. More
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
The Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of fate, tragedy, and the meaning of the human condition. More
A Christmas Carol
Dickens’s beloved classic of the meaning of Christmas that has inspired countless adaptations. More
Tom Robbins
I write to twine ideas and images into big subversive pretzels of life, death, and goofiness—on the chance that, like the Trickster figure in tribal myths, they might help keep the world lively and give it the flexibility to endure. More
1850: Harper’s New Monthly Magazine launches
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine launches in June, serializing Charles Dickens’s Bleak House, as well as then unknown authors Herman Melville and Mark Twain. More
Hilary Mantel
I read out of hope and avid curiosity, and in an attempt to live in other times, and inhabit bodies that are not my own. More
The Woman in White
One of the earliest works of detective fiction, this story caused a sensation with readers at the time. More
1903: Collins is the first to publish illustrated shilling-priced paperbacks…
Collins is the first to publish a series of illustrated, shilling-priced pocket size classics with the introduction of Collins Illustrated Pocket Classics. Included in this series are a maroon cloth-bound David Copperfield, many other Charles Dickens favorites, Sir Walter Scott’s Kenilworth, George Eliot’s Adam Bede, and Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley. More
Wuthering Heights
A Gothic classic and one of the world’s greatest tales of unrequited love. More
Protectors Of Authors’ Rights
In the early 1800s, American publishers were notorious for reprinting titles from overseas at a fraction of the price, and without payment to authors. More
T. C. Boyle
I read in the way that I breathe, as a necessity of life. More
Gregory Maguire
One of the reasons HarperCollins has been my most frequent publisher for thirty-three years is that I admired three children’s books published by Harper & Row within a year of each other (the year I was turning nine). More
Frank Warren
The book that set a course. At The Book Thing in Baltimore I saw a man persistently searching over the used-book shelves. More
The Complete Works of Mark Twain: Authorized Edition
Twain worked directly with Harper & Brothers to produce this authorized edition of his works. More
Bleak House
Dickens’s tenth novel, often considered his finest; significantly influenced the development of mystery novels. More
Nostromo
A sweeping masterpiece considered by many to be Conrad’s greatest novel. More