1836: Harper & Brothers begins publishing books for children
Harper & Brothers begins publishing books for children with the Fairy Book Collection. More
Publishing Firsts: Fontana
In 1936 Collins became the first major publishing house to create its own font. 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
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
A planning meeting at Collins Canada, circa 1940s
In this photograph, Charles H. Sweeny, Editorial and Production, F. F. Appleton, publisher (center), and Margaret V. Paull, staff artist and typographer, plan the first Canadian production of Little Grey Rabbit Books. More
Doctor Zhivago
Collins was the first to publish this epic romantic drama by the Nobel Prize winner in English. More
2012: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel wins the Man Booker Prize…
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, published by HarperCollins in the UK, wins the Man Booker Prize. Mantel becomes the first woman ever to win the prize twice, having first won for Wolf Hall in 2009. More
1819: Chalmers & Collins Bookshop and Printing Works opens and prints its first book
Chalmers & Collins Bookshop and Printing Works opens and prints its first book… More
Publishing Firsts: Stereotyping
The Harper brothers first began publishing in the early 1800s, when emerging technologies were fundamentally changing the process of printing–replacing the painstaking compositing, inking, and pulling processes needed for each page. More
1824: The first Collins dictionary is printed
The first Collins dictionary is printed. More
Canada’s White Circle Pocket Editions
In response to global paper shortages during World War II, Canada began manufacturing books for international markets in 1941. 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
1952: Caedmon Audio is founded…
Caedmon Audio, the first company to sell audio versions of works by writers such as Dylan Thomas, e. e. cummings, and Robert Frost, is founded. More
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
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
The Exorcist
The first horror story to reach number one on the New York Times bestseller list. 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
1936: Collins is the first major publishing house to create its own font…
Collins is the first major publishing house to create its own font. More
Publishing Firsts: The VendAvon
Chips, cookies, sodas–and books–from a vending machine. Avon’s entertaining comic books—western, horror, romance, war, science fiction, and gangster titles, mostly—appealed to readers of all ages from 1945 through the mid-1950s. More
1817: James and John Harper open a printing shop in New York City
Brothers James and John Harper open the modest printing establishment of J. & J. Harper, Printers, in New York City. 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
Signed copy of the first book ever published by Mills & Boon
A copy of the first book ever published by Mills & Boon, Arrows from the Dark by Sophie Cole (1909), signed by Messrs. Gerald Mills and Charles Boon. More
Letter from John Donovan submitting the manuscript for I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip.
In June 1968, author John Donovan wrote to Ursula Nordstrom, head of the U.S. Harper Children’s division, asking her to read the manuscript... More
1830: J. & J. Harper is the first publisher to adopt stereotyping
J. & J. Harper is the first publisher to adopt the process of stereotyping, using papier-mâché molds to forge reusable metal plates of entire pages. More
1917: Harper & Brothers releases the first-ever book and phonograph record “bundles”…
Harper & Brothers releases a series of 12 Bubble Books, the first-ever book and phonograph record “bundle,” featuring nursery rhymes like “Jack and Jill” and “Simple Simon.” More
1978: Zondervan publishes the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible…
Zondervan publishes the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, a contemporary English translation that provides an accurate and understandable alternative to the King James Version. More
One Hundred Years of Solitude
This landmark of magical realism sparked a wave of interest in Central and South American literature. More