Tag: Harper & Brothers

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre
Brontë’s masterpiece of Gothic romance; a milestone title in the history of British feminist literature. More

Protectors Of Authors’ Rights

The first installment of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens published in Harper’s Weekly.
In the early 1800s, American publishers were notorious for reprinting titles from overseas at a fraction of the price, and without payment to authors. More

Under the Volcano

Under the Volcano
A landmark of modernism, hailed as “one of the towering novels of this century” (New York Times). More

Education and Publishing

Title pages of several books featured in Harper’s Family Library in the 1830s, including The History of the Bible and The Lives of Celebrated Travelers.
Beginning in 1830, the Harper brothers believed that the increasingly literate populace might clamor for turnkey collections. More

The HarperCollins Logo

The Harper “fire” and Collins “water” colophons, which were combined to create today’s “fire and water” HarperCollins logo.
The HarperCollins logo represents the 1990 consolidation of Harper & Row, based in New York, and Collins Publishers, based in London and Glasgow. More

Profiles in Courage

New York Times advertisement for Profiles in Courage from May 19, 1957.
Harper & Brothers helped groom the image of a future president when it agreed in the mid-1950s to work with a young senator on a collection of biographical sketches about courageous American lawmakers. More

From Printers to Publishers

A 1923 New York Times advertisement placed by Harper & Brothers regarding its move from Franklin Square to 49 East 33rd Street in New York City.
James and John Harper began their business in 1817 primarily as printers, although they soon began to publish and sell original works. More

The Harper Fire of 1853

An illustration depicting the Harper fire of 1853.
The Harper offices in New York City were claimed by fire in 1853, when a plumber lit a lamp with a roll of paper and then attempted to extinguish the burning roll in a tub of water. More

Stuart Little

Stuart Little
White’s beloved classic about a small mouse on a big adventure is a perennial bestseller. More

From Clerk to Chairman of the Board

An 1885 letter from Henry Hoyns to the Harper brothers requesting a raise after being promoted to the stock desk.
One summer day in 1884, Horatio Harper, grandson of founder John Harper, began talking with a bright young boy during his regular steamboat commute from Long Island to Manhattan. More

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

An Armed Services Edition of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943).
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

Social Change: Women Writers

Author Catharine M. Sedgwick (1832).
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