1941: Avon Books is established…

Avon Books is established by New York businessman Joseph Meyers in association with Edna B. Williams. Now renowned for widely popularizing the historical romance category, the publisher originally begins with a focus on paperback reprints. 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

Social Change: Civil Rights

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

Barometer Rising

The first novel by MacLennan, one of Canada’s most significant novelists of the mid-twentieth century. More

Crime & Mystery At HarperCollins

In 1860, Harper & Brothers had paid Wilkie Collins £750 for The Woman in White, which heralded the publisher’s entry into the crime and mystery genre. 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

To Kill a Mockingbird

Much-loved Pulitzer Prize–winning classic, voted by librarians across America as the best novel of the twentieth century. More

Flat Stanley

This series celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2014 and has sold more than one million copies. More

Harry the Dirty Dog

Classic dog story; childhood favorite that has charmed readers for more than fifty years. More

Flashman

When this novel was first published, many critics mistakenly accepted it as a genuine historical memoir. More

The Giving Tree

Poignant, game-changing picture book for readers of all ages that has been a favorite for generations. More

I, Robot

Asimov’s science fiction masterpiece that influenced a legion of future authors. More

The Birth of Perry Mason

Head of William Morrow and Company (later acquired by HarperCollins) since the death of its founder in 1931, Thayer Hobson searched widely for promising new authors, often traveling to Europe in pursuit of his next big title. More

How Harlequin Became Romance

When Richard H.G. Bonnycastle, a former Arctic explorer with the Hudson Bay Company, launched Harlequin Books in Winnipeg in 1948, he had little interest in building a publishing empire around romance novels. 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