Tag: Expanding literature

Publishing Firsts: The NIV and NKJV Bible

In 1965, members from the Christian Reformed Church and a broad spectrum of evangelical churches, denominations, and organizations came together to discuss the creation of a new contemporary translation of the Bible. More

1978: Harper & Row publishes Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series…

Harper & Row publishes the first book in Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series after it is serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle. The series highlights gay issues and becomes a cultural icon for generations of readers. More

1962: Harper & Brothers merges with Row, Peterson & Co. to form Harper & Row…

Harper & Brothers merges with textbook publisher Row, Peterson & Co. to form Harper & Row. More

Internal memo from Collins Canada announcing a hot air balloon publicity stunt

To launch the new Canadian trade paperback imprint Totem, in September 1975, Collins Canada’s head of publicity Lucinda Vardey organized the release of hot air balloons over Toronto and neighboring suburbs. More

Queen Elizabeth II visiting the Collins Glasgow offices

Billy Collins, William Collins Sons & Co.’s incumbent chairman, greets Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at the Collins Glasgow offices as part of the company’s celebration of its 150th anniversary in 1969. More

Social Change: African American Identity in the U.S.

HarperCollins has published a number of books that explore the racial identity of African Americans during periods of great social conflict. More

One Hundred Years of Solitude

This landmark of magical realism sparked a wave of interest in Central and South American literature. More

Nelson and Sons at Work

In 1845 Thomas Nelson and Sons moved its operations to a printing works at Hope Park in Scotland, big enough for its growing staff of more than 400. 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

1963: Maurice Sendak receives the Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are…

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is published. It is awarded the 1964 Caldecott Medal. More

1830: John Inman is hired by the Harper brothers as their first “reader”

John Inman is hired by the Harper brothers as their first official “reader.” More

1853: William Collins introduces new steam presses

William Collins introduces new steam presses, allowing Collins and Sons to publish Shakespeare and The Pilgrim’s Progress in affordable editions available to the masses. More

Caedmon Records and Audiobooks

In 1952, Barbara Cohen and Marianne Roney, a pair of recent college graduates, wrote a letter to Welsh poet Dylan Thomas that contained an unusual business proposal. More

The Growth of Harlequin Romance

Lawrence Heisey, a former soap salesman who had been appointed president of Harlequin in 1971, revolutionized romance publishing by distributing Harlequin romances to supermarkets and department stores, where they would be right at the fingertips of Canadian and American homemakers. 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

Sam Moore with Ronald Reagan

Sam Moore was the founder of Royal Publishing, which acquired Thomas Nelson in 1969 and adopted its name. More

2015: HarperCollins expands into a global publisher…

HarperCollins expands from a primarily English-language publisher to one publishing in 17 languages, with operations in 18 countries around the world. More

1937: Zora Neale Hurston’s masterpiece, Their Eyes Were Watching God is published…

J. B. Lippincott publishes Zora Neale Hurston’s masterpiece, Their Eyes Were Watching God. More

1975: Thomas Nelson commissions the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible…

Thomas Nelson commissions 130 scholars, pastors, and lay Christians to create the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, aiming to “retain the purity and stylistic beauty” of the original King James produced in 1611. More

The Steam-Powered Press

For years, the Harper brothers relied on a white draft horse named Dobbin, who plodded a circular path in the basement of their offices, turning a wooden shaft that powered the Treadwell hand press two floors above, until new technology sent him out to pasture. More

1969: Sam Moore’s Royal Publishing acquires Thomas Nelson and Sons…

After founding the religious publishing firm Royal Publishing in 1962, Sam Moore acquires Thomas Nelson and Sons and adopts the company’s name. More

Judith Kerr: Beyond The Tiger Who Came to Tea

Collins author Judith Kerr may be best known in the UK for her classic children’s picture books The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Mog the Forgetful Cat, but she is also renowned for her powerful autobiographical novels about her childhood and young adulthood. More

Candy package with Timothy Findley’s plans for his novella You Went Away

Canadian author Timothy Findley’s only novella, You Went Away (1996), was based on his parents’ marriage. More

I’m OK—You’re OK

A defining work of self-help with more than 15 million copies in print. More

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943), a story about growing up poor in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, was originally an entry for a Harper & Brothers memoir contest. More

Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Major nineteenth-century English novel that challenged the sexual morals of late Victorian England. More

Amistad

HarperCollins’s Amistad Press is the oldest imprint devoted to titles for the African American market at any major New York publishing house. More