Tag: Expanding literature

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

2017: HarperCollins celebrates its 200th anniversary…

HarperCollins Publishers celebrates its 200th anniversary. More

1990: HarperCollins becomes the new global company name…

On May 29, 1990, HarperCollins becomes the new global name for the combined Harper & Row and Collins. 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

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

1972: Avon launches the historical romance genre…

Avon launches the historical romance genre when it publishes Kathleen Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower, a historical romance with a strong female lead and sexual situations that go a step beyond the tame romances of earlier eras. More

1971: William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist is published…

William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist becomes the first horror story to reach number one on the New York Times bestseller list and helps initiate the modern horror film movement. More

1856: The first Collins Atlas is published

The first Collins Atlas is published. More

George Eliot

Mary Anne Evans, born in 1819, led a turbulent life that often broke with Victorian social norms. More

Early Offices

Thomas Nelson’s bookshop once sat in a half-timbered storefront at 7 West Bow in Edinburgh, one of many rickety buildings rising precariously from the Z-shaped street like upside-down pyramids. More

2003: HarperCollins partners with an e-book loan service catering to public libraries…

HarperCollins becomes the first major trade publisher to partner with an e-book loan service catering to public libraries. 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

Alistair MacLean signing books

The young Alistair MacLean in 1957 signs a book during a promotional event for The Guns of Navarone. More

The Zondervans on their silver anniversary

Bernie and Pat Zondervan, founders of the religious publishing firm Zondervan, review some of their early publications on the silver anniversary of their company in 1956. 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

The Rise and Fall of the Harper Rule

In the early 1800s, American printers had no qualms about pirating books from abroad and selling them at discount prices. More

I’m OK—You’re OK

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

Founded on Religion

Though a shared love of the written word inspired those who laid the foundation of HarperCollins, spreading Christian principles was a calling for them. More

1926: William Morrow is founded and publishes its first book…

William Morrow is founded and publishes its first book, On to Oregon! by Honoré Morrow. 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

Riders of the Purple Sage

Often called “the most popular Western novel of all time,” this classic helped shape the Western genre. 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

Being and Time

Perhaps the twentieth century’s most influential philosophical work, which shaped existentialism and postmodern thought. More

1932: The Canadian branch of William Collins and Sons is founded in Toronto…

The Canadian branch of William Collins and Sons is founded in Toronto by Franklin F. Appleton. More

1949: Harlequin Books is founded…

Harlequin Books is founded in Winnipeg by Richard Bonnycastle, Doug Weld, and Jack Palmer. 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

Employees in the Collins Canada general office, circa 1940s

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