Chambers Harrap

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Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.
Subsidiary
Industry Publishing
GenreReference
PredecessorW. R. Chambers Publishers and
George G. Harrap and Company Ltd
FoundedFirst publication in 1819
Headquarters London, UK
Parent Hachette
Website chambersharrap.co.uk

Chambers Harrap Publishers (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd) is a reference publisher formerly based in Edinburgh, Scotland, which held the property rights of the venerable W. R. Chambers Publishers and its competitor George G. Harrap and Company (founded: 1901).

Edinburgh City and council area in Scotland

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian, it is located in Lothian on the Firth of Forth's southern shore.

Scotland Country in Europe, part of the United Kingdom

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Sharing a border with England to the southeast, Scotland is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, by the North Sea to the northeast and by the Irish Sea to the south. In addition to the mainland, situated on the northern third of the island of Great Britain, Scotland has over 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

George G. Harrap and Co.

George G. Harrap, Ltd is a now defunct publisher of high quality specialty books, many of them educational, such as the memoirs of Winston Churchill, or highly illustrated with line drawings, engravings or etchings, such as the much republished classic educational children's book The Cave Boy of the Age of Stone from at least 1901 into the 1980s.

Contents

History of Chambers

Chambers was founded as W. & R. Chambers Publishers by the two brothers William Chambers of Glenormiston and Robert Chambers. They were born into a rich, mill-owning family in Peebles in Scotland in 1800 and 1802 respectively, during the time of the war with France. The war impoverished the family and, in 1813, the family left Peebles for Edinburgh. Robert remained at home to finish his education, but William was forced to find work to support his parents. He was a keen reader and would get up early in the morning to read by the dawn light because he was too poor to buy candles. He was apprenticed to a bookseller, at the sum of 4 shillings a week. Robert, also an avid reader, could not go to university when he finished school because his parents could not afford to pay. He too moved to Edinburgh, rented a one-roomed shop in Leith Walk, and set himself up as a bookseller when he was just 16 years old. William's apprenticeship came to an end when he turned 18 and he joined Robert working in the shop.

Peebles Scottish town

Peebles is a royal burgh in Peeblesshire, of which it is the county town, within the Scottish Borders region. According to the 2011 Census, the population was 8,376.

Although they had had a modest beginning, the brothers began to do well. They had no training in printing and binding but together they printed, bound and published 750 copies of The Songs of Robert Burns in around 1819. This was the nearest thing to a guaranteed best-seller in 19th-century Edinburgh, and brought further profits and some fame.

In 1824, Robert wrote, and the brothers published, Traditions of Edinburgh. Education was always the main priority for William and Robert. [1] In 1832, they published The Chambers Journal, a weekly newspaper containing articles on subjects such as history, religion, language and science, many of which were written by Robert himself. It was an immediate success and within a few years the weekly circulation had risen to 84,000 copies. This put an end to their struggle to survive although they still had to work hard.

The design and wording that appeared at the start of each volume of the Chambers's Encyclopaedia. Chambers's Encyclopaedia title.jpg
The design and wording that appeared at the start of each volume of the Chambers's Encyclopaedia.

Between 1859 and 1868 they published their most important work to date, the renowned Chambers's Encyclopaedia (no longer published) in 520 weekly parts at three-halfpence each. [2] The first edition was based on a translation into English of the 10th edition of the German-language Konversations-Lexikon, which became the Brockhaus Enzyklopädie. [3] This went through several further editions, reaching a high point of quality with the 1950 edition published in 15 volumes by George Newnes which took six years to prepare, cost £500,000 and included the work of over 2,300 authors. The work was lauded by the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Jowitt, as "outstanding proof" of British scholarship, while the managing editor, M. D. Law, commented that she believed the work to be the first major encyclopaedia to be published in Britain since before the First World War. [4] The encyclopaedia was regarded as such a scholarly achievement that Law received the O.B.E. for her efforts. [5] [ full citation needed ]

<i>Chamberss Encyclopaedia</i> book

Chambers's Encyclopaedia was founded in 1859 by William and Robert Chambers of Edinburgh and became one of the most important English language encyclopaedias of the 19th and 20th centuries, developing a reputation for accuracy and scholarliness that was reflected in other works produced by the Chambers publishing company. The encyclopaedia is no longer produced. A selection of illustrations and woodblocks used to produce the first two editions of the encyclopaedia can be seen on a digital resource hosted on the National Museums Scotland website.

German language West Germanic language

German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.

<i>Brockhaus Enzyklopädie</i> German-language encyclopedia

The Brockhaus Enzyklopädie is a German-language encyclopedia which until 2009 was published by the F. A. Brockhaus printing house.

Chambers also published an extensive list of innovative and ultra-reliable language and reference titles, covering English-language dictionaries, thesauruses, bilingual dictionaries, and specialist titles on subjects such as biography, quotations, literary characters, science and technology and world history.

At the end of 2009, the parent company shut the Edinburgh premises of Chambers Harrap Publishers. The Chambers imprint is now managed from London by Hodder Education, while Harrap titles are edited in Paris. A subsidiary, Allied Chambers, publishes the titles for the market in and around India. [6]

A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company that is owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company, parent, or holding company. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a government or state-owned enterprise. In some cases, particularly in the music and book publishing industries, subsidiaries are referred to as imprints.

Current publications

Chambers Harrap Publishers is best known for its flagship title, The Chambers Dictionary , which contains more words and definitions than any other single-volume dictionary and is known for its occasionally humorous definitions. The Chambers list is currently split into the following areas:

The Chambers Dictionary (TCD) was first published by William and Robert Chambers as Chambers's English Dictionary in 1872. It was an expanded version of Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of 1867, compiled by James Donald. A second edition came out in 1898, and was followed in 1901 by a new compact edition called Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary.

Harrap

Chambers purchased the formerly independent Harrap's in the early 1990s. Harrap mainly publishes bilingual dictionaries, for instance Harrap's Shorter French Dictionary . The Harrap list also includes study aids, slang dictionaries, phrasebooks and business dictionaries. In the UK, Harrap publishes bilingual titles in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German and Polish.

Recently, Chambers has started selling Harrap publications under the "Chambers" imprint. It is not known whether the name "Harrap's" will continue in use.

Slang

At the end of 2007 Chambers Harrap Publishers acquired the rights to publish the renowned British slang lexicographer Jonathon Green's Slang Dictionary as Chambers Slang Dictionary , originally published by Cassell of the Orion Publishing Group. This new edition was published in October 2008.

Brewer's

On 1 January 2008, Chambers Harrap Publishers acquired the Brewer's list from Orion Publishing Group, including the famous Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable .

See also

Related Research Articles

Robert Chambers (publisher, born 1802) Scottish publisher and writer

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Longman publishing company

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Merriam-Webster American publisher

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<i>Macquarie Dictionary</i> dictionary of Australian English

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<i>Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable</i> reference work containing definitions and explanations of phrases, allusions and figures

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, sometimes referred to simply as Brewer's, is a reference work containing definitions and explanations of many famous phrases, allusions, and figures, whether historical or mythical.

Race (biology) Biological concept

In biological taxonomy, race is an informal rank in the taxonomic hierarchy, below the level of subspecies. It has been used as a higher rank than strain, with several strains making up one race. Various definitions exist. Races may be genetically distinct populations of individuals within the same species, or they may be defined in other ways, e.g. geographically, or physiologically. Genetic isolation between races is not complete, but genetic differences may have accumulated that are not (yet) sufficient to separate species. The term is recognized by some, but not governed by any, of the formal codes of biological nomenclature.

William Chambers (publisher) Scottish publisher and politician

William Chambers of Glenormiston or William Chambers was a Scottish publisher and politician, the brother of Robert Chambers. The brothers were influential in the mid-19th century, in both scientific and political circles.

The Oxford-Hachette French to English/English to French Dictionary is one of the most comprehensive and recent bilingual French–English/English–French dictionaries. It was the first such dictionary to be written using a computerized corpus and it contains 555,000 translations as well as 360,000 words and expressions. The work was first published in 1994, with its second, third and fourth editions appearing in 1997, 2001 and 2007 respectively. Though the dictionary is entirely bilingual, it is marketed under two different names, one for French, one for English:

A slang dictionary is a reference book containing an alphabetical list of slang, which is vernacular vocabulary not generally acceptable in formal usage, usually including information given for each word, including meaning, pronunciation, and etymology. It can provide definitions on a range of slang from more mundane terms to obscure sexual practices. Such works also can include words and phrases arising from different dialects and argots, which may or may not have passed into more common usage. They can also track the changing meaning of the terms over time and space, as they migrate and mutate. This makes them of interest to a variety of people, from oral historians, to etymologists, to the casual browser.

<i>Collins-Robert French Dictionary</i>

The Collins-Robert French Dictionary is a bilingual dictionary of English and French derived from the Collins Word Web, an analytical linguistics database. As well as its primary function as a bilingual dictionary, it also contains usage guides for English and French, English and French verb tables, and maps of English and French speaking areas.

Chambers Biographical Dictionary provides concise descriptions of over 18,000 notable figures from Britain and the rest of the world. It was first published in 1897.

Harrap's Shorter French Dictionary, published by Chambers Harrap Publishers, is one of the best known English/French bilingual dictionaries in the United Kingdom and France. The eighth edition was published in April 2007. In the United States it is sold under the title Harrap's French and English College Dictionary.

Jonathon Green is an English lexicographer of slang and writer on the history of alternative cultures. Jonathon Green is often referred to as the English-speaking world's leading lexicographer of slang, and has even been described as 'The most acclaimed British lexicographer since Johnson'.

Chambers's Edinburgh Journal was a weekly 16-page magazine started by William Chambers in 1832. The first edition was dated 4 February 1832, and priced at one penny. Topics included history, religion, language, and science. William was soon joined as joint editor by his brother Robert, who wrote many of the articles for the early issues, and within a few years the journal had a circulation of 84,000. From 1847 to 1849 it was edited by William Henry Wills. In 1854 the title was changed to Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, and changed again to Chambers's Journal at the end of 1897.

David Patrick (writer) Scottish writer and editor

David Patrick FRSE LLD was a Scottish writer and editor. He edited Chambers's Encyclopaedia from 1888 to 1892, Chambers's Biographical Dictionary in 1897 and Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature with F. H. Groome from 1901 to 1903.

The Chambers Institution is home to the Tweeddale Museum and Gallery, a museum, library and art gallery at Peebles in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland.

<i>Greens Dictionary of Slang</i> multi-volume historical dictionary of English slang

Green's Dictionary of Slang (GDoS) is a multivolume dictionary defining and giving the history of English slang from around the Early Modern English period to the present day written by Jonathon Green. As a historical dictionary it covers not only slang words in use in the present day but also those from the past which are no longer used, and illustrates its definitions with quotations. It is thus comparable in method to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) though with a narrower scope, since it includes only slang words; nonetheless it is more comprehensive within its scope, containing 125,000 items of slang while the OED has only 7,700 terms carrying a slang label.

References

  1. https://www.nms.ac.uk/collections-research/our-research/highlights-of-previous-projects/chambers-collection/research/w-r-chambers-and-the-collection-history
  2. Law, M. D. "Preface" in Chambers's Encyclopædia. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 1, pp. vii-x.
  3. Chambers’s Encyclopaedia Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  4. "Six Years' Work On Encyclopaedia" in The Times , 25 April 1950, p. 8. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  5. "Encyclopaedia Editor Retires" in The Times, 29 August 1963, p. 10. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  6. See, e.g., Walker, Peter M. B. (2001) [1999]. Chambers Dictionary of Science and Technology. New Delhi: Allied Chambers. Indicia. ISBN   81-86062-32-7. This edition ... is published by Allied Chambers (India) Ltd., 2001 by arrangement with Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd., ... for sale in India and specified territories only The distribution sub-subsidiary of Allied Chambers is given as Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd.

Further reading

Democratising Knowledge: An Online Resource from National Museums Scotland