Ben-Hur
Lew Wallace, a Union general in the Civil War, wrote the biblical novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ in 1880. More
Eugene Exman and Martin Luther King
Shortly after the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 and ‘56, Harper & Brothers religious books editor Eugene Exman left New York City for Alabama and secured a meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. More
Master and Commander
First book in O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series, widely regarded as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. More
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Newbery Award winner about the power of family, which has sold over 4.5 million copies. 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 Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Christie’s first book to be published by William Collins; known for its startling reveal. More
A Bear Called Paddington
In 1958, an editor at Collins named Barbara Ker Wilson received a manuscript submission about a talking bear, which she opened with “initial suspicion” —as the publisher had received many other proposals featuring humanized animals that “are invariably either whimsy-whamsy, written down, or filled with adult innuendoes.” More
The Giving Tree
Poignant, game-changing picture book for readers of all ages that has been a favorite for generations. More
The War of the Worlds
The much-adapted classic from “the father of science fiction.” More
Stuart Little
White’s beloved classic about a small mouse on a big adventure is a perennial bestseller. More
Bridge to Terabithia
Newbery Medal–winning novel; a true modern classic and touchstone of children’s literature. More
1957: The I Can Read! series launches with the publication of Little Bear…
The I Can Read! series launches with the publication of Little Bear, written by Else Holmelund Minarik and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, and becomes the number one beginning reader series in the United States. More
1932: Laura Ingalls Wilder publishes Little House in the Big Woods…
Virginia Kirkus, inaugural department editor of Harper’s Department of Books for Boys and Girls, launches Laura Ingalls Wilder with the publication of Little House in the Big Woods. More
1958: Collins publishes the first English translation of Doctor Zhivago…
Collins publishes the first English translation of Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. More
I Can Read!
Inspired by an occasion in which she attempted to find an appropriate book for a young boy who had just learned to read, Boston librarian Virginia Haviland telephoned her friend Ursula Nordstrom, the head of children’s publishing at Harper & Brothers. More
Page from the original manuscript of “The Man from Snowy River”
A handwritten page from the original manuscript of “The Man from Snowy River” by Banjo Paterson. More
Middlemarch
Ranked number one in a 2015 BBC poll of the 100 greatest British novels. More
Wuthering Heights
A Gothic classic and one of the world’s greatest tales of unrequited love. More
The Woman in White
One of the earliest works of detective fiction, this story caused a sensation with readers at the time. More
Becoming Children’s Authors: Sendak, Silverstein And Ursula Nordstrom
Neither Maurice Sendak nor Shel Silverstein started their careers with children’s literature as a focus. More
C.S. Lewis and Christianity
Born in 1898 in Belfast, Clive Staples Lewis lost his faith in Christianity at a young age after his mother died and he was sent away to boarding school. 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
J. B. Lippincott
Born in 1813 in New Jersey, Joshua Ballinger Lippincott became a bookseller shortly after he moved to Philadelphia at age 14. More
Social Change: Women Writers
In the mid-late 1800s, Harper & Brothers reprinted several milestone titles in the history of British feminist literature as well as the global canon, such as Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847), Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), and Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), as well as George Eliot’s Middlemarch (1872). More
Old Yeller
Instantly acclaimed, it has become one of the most beloved children’s classics ever written. More
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
An American classic called “one of the books of the century” by the New York Public Library. More
Agatha Christie at her Devonshire home
Agatha Christie, known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime, is the best-selling novelist in history, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. More