George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans, born in 1819, led a turbulent life that often broke with Victorian social norms. More
1937: Harper & Brothers publishes This Is My Story by Eleanor Roosevelt…
Harper & Brothers publishes This Is My Story by Eleanor Roosevelt. More
Nostromo
A sweeping masterpiece considered by many to be Conrad’s greatest novel. More
Bleak House
Dickens’s tenth novel, often considered his finest; significantly influenced the development of mystery novels. 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
Science Fiction & Fantasy
HarperCollins’s connections to nascent science fiction and fantasy worlds began with works such as Edward Lytton Bulwer’s The Coming Race (1871), and H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) and The Invisible Man (1898). More
1848: Harper & Brothers publishes the first American editions of the Brontë’s works
Harper & Brothers publishes the first American editions of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. More
1863: Harper & Brothers takes a clear stand in favor of abolition
Harper & Brothers takes a clear stand in favor of abolition with the publication of Fanny Kemble’s Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839. 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
Herman Melville and Moby-Dick
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
A Christmas Carol
Dickens’s beloved classic of the meaning of Christmas that has inspired countless adaptations. More
Garth Williams, Illustrator
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
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
The Complete Works of Mark Twain: Authorized Edition
Twain worked directly with Harper & Brothers to produce this authorized edition of his works. More
1956: Harper & Brothers publishes Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy…
Harper & Brothers publishes Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy, which wins the Pulitzer Prize in 1957 and helps propel the young senator to the White House. More
Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Major nineteenth-century English novel that challenged the sexual morals of late Victorian England. More
James Harper, Mayor Of New York City
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
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
Brave New World
Huxley’s best-known novel; a prophetic classic of speculative fiction that continues to resonate. More
Profiles in Courage
Pulitzer Prize winner that helped propel the young senator to the White House. More
I Can Read!
Inspired by an occasion in which she attempted to find an appropriate book for a young boy who had just learned to read, Boston librarian Virginia Haviland telephoned her friend Ursula Nordstrom, the head of children’s publishing at Harper & Brothers. 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
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
Where the Wild Things Are
This winner of the 1964 Caldecott Medal changed the face of children’s literature. More
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
The bestselling American novel of the nineteenth century; an epic tale of betrayal and honor. More
“The Most Beautiful Printing Ever Done”
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
Eugene Exman and Martin Luther King
Shortly after the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 and ‘56, Harper & Brothers religious books editor Eugene Exman left New York City for Alabama and secured a meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. More