Anne Hillerman
I read to take a mini-vacation in my own living room, to go back in history, forward in time, or to a place I love and had forgotten. More
1895: Mark Twain signs an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers
Mark Twain signs an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, which serializes Joan of Arc in its periodicals and publishes it as a book one year later. More
The Intelligent Investor
The stock market bible, hailed by Warren Buffett as “the best book on investing ever written.” More
Down and Out in Paris and London
The first book by the author of the twentieth-century classics Animal Farm and 1984. 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
James Rollins
I owe my mother everything. 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
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
Freakonomics
Multimillion-copy bestseller that helped launch a wave of interest in behavioral economics and statistics. More
1953: William Collins and Sons gains the rights to publish C. S. Lewis…
William Collins and Sons purchases the religious publishing firm of Geoffrey Bles, Ltd., gaining the rights to the works of C. S. Lewis, including his Chronicles of Narnia fantasy books. More
Two Years Before the Mast
An early landmark of adventure and travel writing, now considered one of America’s first literary classics. 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
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
A multimillion-copy benchmark of adventure/survival nonfiction. More
Ariel
Plath’s landmark poetry collection; includes “Ariel,” “Daddy,” and “Lady Lazarus.” More
1924: “Queen of Crime” Agatha Christie joins the house of Collins…
“Queen of Crime” Agatha Christie joins the house of Collins, and two years later publishes her seminal Hercule Poirot novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. More
1830: John Inman is hired by the Harper brothers as their first “reader”
John Inman is hired by the Harper brothers as their first official “reader.” More
1971: William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist is published…
William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist becomes the first horror story to reach number one on the New York Times bestseller list and helps initiate the modern horror film movement. More
1926: William Morrow is founded and publishes its first book…
William Morrow is founded and publishes its first book, On to Oregon! by Honoré Morrow. More
Publishing Firsts: The VendAvon
Chips, cookies, sodas–and books–from a vending machine. Avon’s entertaining comic books—western, horror, romance, war, science fiction, and gangster titles, mostly—appealed to readers of all ages from 1945 through the mid-1950s. More
Caedmon Records and Audiobooks
In 1952, Barbara Cohen and Marianne Roney, a pair of recent college graduates, wrote a letter to Welsh poet Dylan Thomas that contained an unusual business proposal. More
1999: William Morrow, Avon, Ecco Press, Amistad and 4th Estate are acquired…
HarperCollins acquires William Morrow, mass market romance imprint Avon, independent publisher Ecco Press, and Amistad Press, the pre-eminent publisher of African-American authors. A year later Collins acquires independent press 4th Estate. More
Native Son
Wright’s unsparing reflection on what it means to be black in America. More
2013: HarperCollins partners with digital book subscription services…
HarperCollins is the first major publisher to partner with digital book subscription services. More
1972: Avon launches the historical romance genre…
Avon launches the historical romance genre when it publishes Kathleen Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower, a historical romance with a strong female lead and sexual situations that go a step beyond the tame romances of earlier eras. 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
George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans, born in 1819, led a turbulent life that often broke with Victorian social norms. More
1993: Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher publishes The Downing Street Years…
Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher publishes The Downing Street Years, which recounts her eleven and a half years at London’s 10 Downing Street, the official prime minister’s residence, with HarperCollins. More