Tag: Harper & Brothers

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

“The Most Beautiful Printing Ever Done”

An edition of Harper’s Illuminated and New Pictorial Bible from 1846.
James Harper went to Europe in 1835 to compile a set of fairy tales for publication, and Harper & Brothers enlisted Joseph A. Adams to make 81 detailed wood-cut engravings for the collection. More

Garth Williams, Illustrator

Marketing flyer promoting the 1946 publication of Little Fur Family, written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Garth Williams.
Garth Williams was a little-known but talented young illustrator when he was commissioned by Ursula Nordstrom, head of Harper’s Department of Books for Boys and Girls, to illustrate the classic Stuart Little by E. B. White. 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

The Pre-Packaged Library

An advertisement for the Collins Select Library of Christian Authors, which ran in The School Newspaper on January 2, 1882.
The Harper brothers created collections of titles that allowed readers to amass an entire library instead of buying just a single book. 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

Bleak House

Bleak House
Dickens’s tenth novel, often considered his finest; significantly influenced the development of mystery novels. More

Social Change: Civil Rights

A page from the Fall 1937 Harper & Brothers catalog touting This Is My Story by Eleanor Roosevelt.
Beginning with This Is My Story (1937), Harper & Brothers published many works by Eleanor Roosevelt that promoted civil rights and the need for government action, including This I Remember (1949), On My Own (1958), and Tomorrow Is Now (1963). More

Mark Twain

A 1900 letter from Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) to Harper & Brothers confirming their publishing agreement.
In 1866, with mostly newspaper articles and other short works to his name, Mark Twain accepted an assignment from the Sacramento Union to produce a weekly column from Hawaii. More

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol
Dickens’s beloved classic of the meaning of Christmas that has inspired countless adaptations. More

James Harper, Mayor Of New York City

Official City Hall portrait of James Harper
With corruption rampant in New York City politics, the newly formed American Republican Party convinced James Harper, one of the brothers who had founded J. & J. Harper in 1817, to run for mayor. 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

Moby-Dick

Moby Dick
Often called the greatest American novel of all time. More

Herman Melville and Moby-Dick

The original agreement between Herman Melville and Harper & Brothers for Moby-Dick, dated September 12, 1851.
Harper & Brothers turned down Herman Melville’s first book, Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, and it was released to strong sales by another publisher. More