Truslove and Hanson

Last updated
Truslove and Hanson
Parent company W H Smith
Founded1893
FounderJoseph Truslove,
Frank Hanson
Country of origin United Kingdom
Headquarters location London
Nonfiction topicsart, crafts, travel

Truslove & Hanson was a minor independent publishing firm that ran a number of fashionable bookshops in the West End of London. They also printed personalized stationery and bookplates, offered a bookbinding service, and acted as London agents for the State Library of New South Wales. There was a New York branch, Truslove, Hanson & Comba, from 1899 to 1903.

Contents

Partners

In 1893 Joseph Truslove, who since 1890 had traded as a bookseller and publisher from 143 Oxford Street, London, went into partnership with Frank Hanson, who had been the London representative of Simpkin Marshall.

In 1899 Truslove and Hanson entered into partnership with T. Ernest Comba and Joseph Shaylor to open a New York office, operating as Truslove, Hanson & Comba from 67 Fifth Avenue. [1] In 1903 this became the New York branch of John Lane. Comba (1851–1921) specialized in selling French, Italian and Spanish books. [2]

Bookshops

Truslove's original premises in 143 Oxford Street were supplemented by a bookshop in Knightsbridge, at 6b Sloane Street (now a Shanghai Tang outlet). This became a fashionable "quality" bookshop, with such customers as Archibald Wavell (Viceroy of India 1943-1947). [3] There was a further bookshop in Mayfair, at 14a Clifford Street (now the London outlet of Kiton).

The bookshops became a subsidiary of W H Smith in 1923, but remained a distinct, up-market brand, tied to Bowes & Bowes after that was acquired by WHS in 1953. The Clifford Street shop was closed in 1958, and the Oxford Street shop in 1963. [4] The Sloane Street premises were moved in 1972.

In 1969, Truslove & Hanson acquired the Times Library. [5]

Publications

Truslove and Hanson were particularly notable as publishers for their list of works on art and design, with Joseph Truslove becoming a member of the Arts Club in 1910.

They published several editions of Frederick Litchfield's Illustrated History of Furniture (7 editions, 1892–1922) and the same author's Pottery and Porcelain (1900, 1912); Fred Miller's Art Crafts for Amateurs (1901); W. G. Paulson Townsend's Embroidery or the Craft of the Needle (1899, 1907), and Plant and Floral Studies for Artists and Craftspeople (1901); and, as Truslove, Hanson and Comba, the American edition of William Millar's classic Plastering Plain and Decorative (1897). From 1899 to 1901 Truslove, Hanson and Comba also published the American edition of The Artist , a monthly review of art and design.

Other notable publications include Henry Ling Roth's, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo (1896) and Oriental Silverwork (1910); John Henry Cardwell's, Men and Women of Soho: Famous and Infamous (1904); and Joseph Shaylor's The Pleasures of Bookland (1914).

See also

Related Research Articles

Charing Cross Road Street in central London

Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus and then becomes Tottenham Court Road. It is so called because it leads from the north in the direction of Charing Cross at the south side of Trafalgar Square, which it connects via St Martin's Place and the motorised east side of the square.

Royal School of Needlework British school dedicated to the art of needlework

The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is a hand embroidery school in the United Kingdom, founded in 1872 and based at Hampton Court Palace since 1987.

Cecil Court

Cecil Court is a pedestrian street with Victorian shop-frontages in London, England, linking Charing Cross Road and St Martin's Lane. Since the 1930s, it has been known as the new Booksellers' Row.

Foyles English bookstore chain

W & G Foyle Ltd. is a bookseller with a chain of seven stores in England. It is best known for its flagship store in Charing Cross Road, London. Foyles was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest bookshop in terms of shelf length, at 30 miles (48 km), and for number of titles on display. It was bought by Waterstones in 2018.

Blackwell UK, also known as Blackwell's and Blackwell Group, is a British academic book retailer and library supply service. It was founded in 1879 by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, after whom the chain is named, in Oxford on Broad Street. The firm now has a chain of 45 shops, and an accounts and library supply service. It employs around 1000 staff in its divisions.

Indica Gallery

Indica Gallery was a counterculture art gallery in Mason's Yard, St James's, London from 1965 to 1967, in the basement of the Indica Bookshop. John Dunbar, Peter Asher, and Barry Miles owned it, and Paul McCartney supported it and hosted a show of Yoko Ono's work in November 1966, at which Ono met John Lennon.

Thorntons Bookshop

Thornton's Bookshop was the oldest university bookshop in Oxford, England. It was founded in 1835 by Joseph Thornton (1808–1891) in Magdalen Street.

Broad Street, Oxford Street in central Oxford, England

Broad Street is a wide street in central Oxford, England, just north of the former city wall. The street is known for its bookshops, including the original Blackwell's bookshop at number 50, located here due to the University of Oxford. Among residents, the street is traditionally known as The Broad.

Wigmore Street

Wigmore Street is a street in the City of Westminster, in the West End of London. The street runs for about 600 yards parallel and to the north of Oxford Street between Portman Square to the west and Cavendish Square to the east. It is named after the village of Wigmore and its castle in Herefordshire, a seat of the family of Robert Harley, politician around the time of Queen Anne, who owned land in the area.

Museum Street

Museum Street is a street in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, England. To the north is the British Museum, hence its current name. The street is populated by cafes and bookshops to appeal to the international museum-going public. To the north is Great Russell Street. To the south are Bloomsbury Way and New Oxford Street. The nearest tube stations are Tottenham Court Road and Holborn to the southwest and southeast respectively.

Bowes & Bowes

Bowes & Bowes was a bookselling and publishing company based in Cambridge, England. It was established by Robert Bowes (1835–1919), a nephew of Daniel Macmillan (1813–1857) — the founder, with his brother Alexander, in 1843, of a firm which by 1850 was a thriving bookshop with the official name ‘Macmillan & Co.’ The same bookshop was eventually owned by Alexander Macmillan in partnership with Robert Bowes. The company became known as ‘Bowes & Bowes’ only in 1907, George Brimley Bowes having become a partner in the business in 1899. The firm continued as a family business until 1953 when it was acquired by W H Smith, who continued to operate it under the original name until 1986. In that year the business’s name was changed to Sherratt & Hughes.

New Beacon Books is a British publishing house, bookshop, and international book service that specializes in Black British, Caribbean, African, African-American and Asian literature. Founded in 1966 by John La Rose and Sarah White, it was the first Caribbean publishing house in England. New Beacon Books is widely recognized as having played an important role in the Caribbean Artists Movement, and in Black British culture more generally. The associated George Padmore Institute (GPI) is located in the same building where the bookshop resides at 76 Stroud Green Road, Finsbury Park, London.

Alfred Baldwin Sloane was an American composer, considered the most prolific songwriter for Broadway musical comedies at the beginning of the 20th century.

Wixenford School Independent preparatory school in Wokingham, England

Wixenford School, also known as Wixenford Preparatory School and Wixenford-Eversley, was an independent preparatory school for boys near Wokingham, founded in 1869. A feeder school for Eton, after it closed in 1934 its former buildings were taken over by the present-day Ludgrove School.

William George Paulson Townsend was an English artist, designer, writer and editor.

Charlie Byrne's is a bookshop located in the Cornstore Mall on Middle Street in Galway, close to Shop Street and the Augustinian Church. Considered a "cultural reference point" for Galwegians and visitors alike, it houses more than 100,000 new and used books. Writers often launch their books here. The Irish Times has described it as "the destination bookshop in Galway city".

Bertram Dobell

Bertram Dobell was an English bookseller, literary scholar, editor, poet, essayist and publisher.

Basil Street

Basil Street, originally known as North Street, is a street in London's Knightsbridge. It was laid out in the second half of the eighteenth century on land belonging to Lord Cadogan and runs between Sloane Street in the north and the junction of Walton Place and Hans Road in the south. It is joined on its east side by Pavilion Road and Rysbrack Street and crossed by Hans Crescent. Architecturally, it is notable for the design of its blocks of mansion flats. Fashion designer Charles Creed had his premises there after the war and in the 1960s, the first meetings that led to Monty Python's Flying Circus were held at a flat in the street.

Robert Bowes was a Scottish bookseller and publisher. He is known for A Catalogue of Books Printed at or relating to the University, Town & County of Cambridge, from 1521 to 1893 : with Bibliographical and Biographical Notes 1891–1894.

References

  1. The Dial (1900), p. 366.
  2. Obituary of T. Ernest Comba in Publishers Weekly , Apr. 2, 1921. Accessed 19 June 2010.
  3. Ramachandra Guha A Viceroy's Reading List, The Hindu , Mar. 28, 2004. Accessed 14 June 2010.
  4. The Bookseller (1982), p. 1858.
  5. Tamsin Kitch, The Times Book Club and The Well of Loneliness, The Times , April 14, 2010.

Coordinates: 51°30′56.5″N0°8′11.7″W / 51.515694°N 0.136583°W / 51.515694; -0.136583