Tag: Innovation

Publishing Firsts: Producing Books Electronically

Although word-processing programs and electronic typewriters had been around since the late 1960s, Harper & Row was the first to help pioneer electronic publishing with Andrew Garve’s The Long Short Cut in 1968, which was, according to the New York Times, “the first book set into type completely by electronic composition.” 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

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

1975: Thomas Nelson commissions the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible…

Thomas Nelson commissions 130 scholars, pastors, and lay Christians to create the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, aiming to “retain the purity and stylistic beauty” of the original King James produced in 1611. 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

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

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

New Naturalists

William Collins V (known as Billy Collins) and the printers AdPrint came up with the idea of the New Naturalist Library in 1942. More

Building Literary Identities: Canada, Australia, India

In the mid-1800s, William Collins took his UK publishing business international–from the Americas, through Australia, to Africa. More

Angus & Robertson in Australia

Ten thousand miles from his homeland, Scotsman David Mackenzie Angus paid £50 to open a small bookshop on Market Street in Sydney, Australia. More

1996: George R.R. Martin redefines the fantasy genre…

George R.R. Martin redefines the fantasy genre with his epic series, A Song of Ice and Fire, published by HarperCollins in the UK. More

1963: Maurice Sendak receives the Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are…

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is published. It is awarded the 1964 Caldecott Medal. 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

The Growth of Harlequin Romance

Lawrence Heisey, a former soap salesman who had been appointed president of Harlequin in 1971, revolutionized romance publishing by distributing Harlequin romances to supermarkets and department stores, where they would be right at the fingertips of Canadian and American homemakers. More

The Woman in White

One of the earliest works of detective fiction, this story caused a sensation with readers at the time. More

Pushing the Boundaries of Children’s Literature

Children’s books explored uncharted territory in the mid-1960s as Harper & Row began to champion boundary-pushing children’s and young adult books. More

1837: Harper & Brothers debuts a first in packaging and distribution

Harper & Brothers debuts its New England School Library, a first in packaging and distribution. More

Publishing Firsts: The Rotary Press

American inventor Richard Hoe’s 1847 four-cylinder rotary press helped increase printing output tenfold, to 8,000 pages per hour. More

Letter from Garth Williams regarding illustrations for the Little House series

When acclaimed illustrator Garth Williams was commissioned to create new illustrations for Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, he traveled west to see the actual sites Wilder referred to in her writings and to meet Laura herself. More

Brochure from the 2009 celebration of Debbie Macomber’s fictional town of Cedar Cove

In August 2009, the real town of Port Orchard, Washington (bestselling romance author Debbie Macomber’s hometown), turned itself into Macomber’s fictional town of Cedar Cove for five days... 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

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

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

The 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

2017: HarperCollins celebrates its 200th anniversary…

HarperCollins Publishers celebrates its 200th anniversary. 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

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