Blackie & Son was a publishing house in Glasgow, Scotland, and London, England, from 1809 to 1991. [1]
Blackie & Son was a publishing house in Glasgow, Scotland, and London, England, from 1809 to 1991. [1]
The firm was founded as a bookseller in 1809 [1] by John Blackie (1782–1874) as a partnership with two others and was known as 'Blackie, Fullarton and Company'. It began printing in 1819, using the skill and equipment of Edward Khull. [2] It moved to Glasgow around 1830 and had premises at 8 Clyde Street facing the River Clyde. [3] Following the retirement of Fullarton the company was renamed 'Blackie and Son' in 1831, remaining in the Clyde Street property, and becoming a public limited company in 1890. Later on, the business moved its Glasgow office to 17 Stanhope Street, and also opened offices at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh and 16/18 William IV Street, Charing Cross, London. [4] The company also opened offices in Canada and India. It ceased publishing in 1991.
Blackie and Son initially published books sold by subscription, including religious texts and reference books. Later the firm published single volumes, particularly school-level educational texts [1] and children's books, taking advantage of compulsory education from 1870. It also published "finely printed 'toy' and 'reward' books" [1] (the latter being "intended for presentation as prizes to pupils in day and Sunday schools"). [1]
In 1893 Blackie and Son appointed Talwin Morris as the firm's art director and book designer. During his tenure, until his death in 1911, Morris was "responsible for the first integrated and visually homogenised approach to the mass production of easily affordable books" [5] for any British publisher. He also designed books for Gresham Publishing, a subsidiary of Blackie and Son. [6]
Blackie published G. A. Henty's historical adventure books for boys (e.g. With Kitchener in the Soudan and With Lee in Virginia ) which were very popular in the British Empire in the later 19th century; Henty wrote 122 books including adult novels. [7]
From 1920, under the guidance of the Cambridge-trained engineer and mathematician, Frederick Bisacre, who became a Blackie and Son partner and subsequently its chairman, [8] the firm began to publish a scientific list "at the cutting edge of research" [9] and which would become the "strongest list in the area" [9] from any British commercial publisher.
Blackie published the many Flower Fairy books of Cicely Mary Barker beginning in 1923. [10] From the 1950s onwards it published The Kennett Library, a graded series of classics retold for schools including: Kidnapped , Little Women , Westward Ho! , The Black Arrow , Wuthering Heights and Ben-Hur . From 1960 to 1991, Blackie published over 130 "Topsy and Tim" titles by Jean and Gareth Adamson.
In 1902, Walter Blackie commissioned Hill House on a plot in Helensburgh to the West of Glasgow. The architect was Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a friend of Talwin Morris. The house is regarded as one of Mackintosh's finest works. [11]
The following is a select listing. Further series are listed here in the Blackie Archives at Glasgow University Library.
George Alfred Henty was an English novelist and war correspondent. He is best known for his works of adventure fiction and historical fiction, including The Dragon & The Raven (1886), For The Temple (1888), Under Drake's Flag (1883) and In Freedom's Cause (1885).
Hutchinson Heinemann is a British publishing firm founded in 1887. It is currently an imprint which is ultimately owned by Bertelsmann, the German publishing conglomerate.
Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business partner Andrew Chatto and poet William Edward Windus. The company was purchased by Random House in 1987 and is now a sub-imprint of Vintage Books within the Penguin UK division.
Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape (1879–1960), who was head of the firm until his death.
George Bell & Sons was a book publishing house located in London, United Kingdom, from 1839 to 1986.
Progress Publishers was a Moscow-based Soviet publisher founded in 1931.
Thomas Y. Crowell Co. was a publishing company founded by Thomas Y. Crowell. The company began as a bookbindery founded by Benjamin Bradley in 1834. Crowell operated the business after Bradley's death in 1862 and eventually purchased the company from Bradley's widow in 1870.
Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature. The brand currently exists as an online shop owned by online bookseller Booktopia. The Angus & Robertson imprint is still seen in books published by HarperCollins, a News Corporation company.
T. Fisher Unwin was the London publishing house founded by Thomas Fisher Unwin, husband of British Liberal politician Jane Cobden in 1882.
Gordon Frederick Browne was an English artist and a prolific illustrator of children's books in the late 19th century and early 20th century. He was a meticulous craftsman and went to a great deal of effort to ensure that his illustrations were accurate. He illustrated six or seven books a year in addition to a huge volume of magazine illustration.
Calder Publications is a publisher of books. Since 1949, the company has published many books on all the arts, particularly subjects such as opera and painting, the theatre and critical and philosophical theory. Calder's authors have achieved nineteen Nobel Literature Prizes and three for Peace.
Frederick Abbott Stokes was an American publisher, founder and long-time head of the eponymous Frederick A. Stokes Company.
Talwin Morris was a prolific book designer and decorative artist working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly known for his Glasgow Style furniture, metalwork and book designs.
Ernest William Haslehust was an English landscape painter and book illustrator who worked in watercolours.
Batsford Books is an independent British book publisher.
Ernest Benn Limited was a British publishing house.
George Allen was an English craftsman and engraver, who became an assistant to John Ruskin and then in consequence a publisher. His name persists in publishing through the George Allen & Unwin company.
Paul Elek (1906–1976) was a British publisher and the founder of the firm Paul Elek Publishers.
Ethel Larcombe was an early twentieth-century British children's book illustrator and designer.
T. N. Foulis was a British publisher founded in Edinburgh in 1903. During its first ten years, the firm became well known for producing "highly original, beautifully illustrated books", with contributions by "artists of considerable merit" such as Jessie M. King, H. M. Brock, Hannah MacGoun and Walter Crane. Works published included classics of poetry and prose, gift books, and nonfiction books, many with a Scottish theme.
