Tag: Expanding literature

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

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

1862: Collins becomes the publisher for the Scottish School Book Association and Irish National Schools

Collins becomes the publisher for the Scottish School Book Association and Irish National Schools, by 1875 buying out the Scottish School Book Association and supplying books directly to schools. More

Social Change: The Harper Brothers and The American Civil War

Literacy became both a predictor of and influence on the American Civil War, being one of the disparities between North and South. 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

1992: John Gray’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus is published…

John Gray’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus is published and becomes one of the bestselling nonfiction books of the 1990s, launching an era of gender and relationship dialogue. More

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

Publishing Firsts: The Historical Romance Genre

At the time of its publication in 1972, nothing like Kathleen Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower had ever been published. More

The Pre-Packaged Library

The Harper brothers created collections of titles that allowed readers to amass an entire library instead of buying just a single book. More

“A Word of Apology” from Harper & Brothers regarding the Harper fire of 1853

In this “Word of Apology” published in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in January 1854, the Harper brothers address the devastating fire that ruined their New York City offices on Cliff Street in late 1853. More

1856: The first Collins Atlas is published

The first Collins Atlas is published. More

1992: HarperCollins begins publishing operations in India…

HarperCollins begins publishing operations in India, represented by Rupa & Co, a small independent publisher. In 2003, HarperCollins India enters a joint venture agreement with the Living Media group, the largest media conglomerate in India. More

2008: HarperCollins India publishes The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga…

HarperCollins India publishes The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, which wins the 2008 Man Booker Prize. More

Ursula Nordstrom

When Anne Carroll Moore, the powerful and opinionated superintendent of children’s work at the New York Public Library, asked Harper & Brothers editor Ursula Nordstrom why she felt qualified to produce children’s books, Nordstrom said only this: “Well, I am a former child, and I haven’t forgotten a thing.” More

Anthony Doerr

We are all mapmakers: We embed our memories everywhere, inscribing a private and intensely complicated latticework across the landscape. More

Anthony Doerr

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

Employees in the Collins Canada general office, circa 1940s

Collins Canada employees working in the general office during the 1940s More

Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt regarding a new autobiographical book

Harper editor and chairman of the board Cass Canfield sent this letter, dated April 10, 1951, to Eleanor Roosevelt... More

200 Years of HarperCollins Publishers

HarperCollins Publishers began as J. & J. Harper, a small family printing shop run by brothers James and John Harper in New York City in March 1817. 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

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

The Publisher of presidents

HarperCollins is the publisher of many United States presidents–beginning with the very first one. More

Geronimo Johnson

I write to unread what has been written about me in error and with malice. More

Geronimo Johnson

1839: Collins receives a license to publish the King James Version of the Bible

Collins receives a license to publish the King James Version of the Bible. 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

The Exorcist

The first horror story to reach number one on the New York Times bestseller list. 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