| Status | Defunct |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1880 |
| Founder | Sir John Benn |
| Defunct | 1987  |
| Successor | Extel |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Publication types | Books, magazines |
Ernest Benn Limited was a British publishing house.
| Status | Defunct |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1880 |
| Founder | Sir John Benn |
| Defunct | 1987 |
| Successor | Extel |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Publication types | Books, magazines |
Ernest Benn Limited was a British publishing house.
Founded by Sir John Benn as Benn Brothers in 1880, it started as the publisher of the trade journal, The Cabinet Maker. [1]
After Sir John was elected to Parliament in 1892, he passed control of the firm to his eldest son Ernest, who became managing director and started publishing more trade journals, such as Gas World, the Fruit Grower and the Electrician, as well as "technical books for each specialized public". [2] In 1923, Ernest changed the name of the firm to Ernest Benn Limited. [1] However, the name 'Benn Brothers' was subsequently revived with the formation of Benn Brothers plc. [3]
Benn hired Victor Gollancz in 1921. [4] Gollancz published a very successful series of art books. He later recruited the writers Edith Nesbit, Robert W. Service and H. G. Wells.[ citation needed ]
Thanks to Gollancz's gifts as a publisher, the company's turnover increased 100-fold in seven years. But Benn was unwilling to cede control of the company to him. Moreover, Benn had moved to the political right and Gollancz to the left. Gollancz left the firm in 1927 to form his own firm, Victor Gollancz Limited. [5]
The firm published a number of books for children and young people, including The Story of the Amulet (1927) by E. Nesbit, Moominsummer Madness (1955) by Tove Jansson, Donkey Days (1977) by Helen Cresswell, and Sybil and the Blue Rabbit (1979) by Jane Johnson. [6]
In addition to individual books, Ernest Benn Limited was known for a number of series:
Ernest Benn Ltd, along with Benn Brothers plc and the other members of the Benn Group of Companies, was taken over by the Extel Group in June 1983. [50] [51] Extel was taken over by United Newspapers in 1987. [50] [52]
Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as James Baldwin, Mary Oliver, Martin Luther King Jr., and Viktor Frankl, as well as The Pentagon Papers.
Hutchinson was a British publishing firm which operated from 1887 until 1985, when it underwent several mergers. It is currently an imprint which is ultimately owned by Bertelsmann, the German publishing conglomerate.
Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad was an English philosopher, author, teacher and broadcasting personality. He appeared on The Brains Trust, a BBC Radio wartime discussion programme. He popularised philosophy and became a celebrity, before his downfall in a scandal over an unpaid train fare in 1948.
E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group.
Henry Richard Vizetelly was a British publisher and writer. He started the publications Pictorial Times and Illustrated Times, wrote several books while working in Paris and Berlin as correspondent for the Illustrated London News, and between 1880 and 1890, ran a publishing house in London, Vizetelly & Company.
Progress Publishers was a Moscow-based Soviet publisher founded in 1931.
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.
Michael Joseph was a British publisher and writer.
Ernest Benn Limited’s Sixpenny Library is a complete series of reference books published in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The library included over one hundred and eighty volumes. The series was edited by William Rose, who solicited current authorities in such areas as history, literature, religion, psychology, science, and economics. Some contributing authors were Hilaire Belloc, Maurice Baring, J.B. Priestley, Sir Robert Baden-Powell, Sir Oliver Lodge, S.V. Keeling and Sir Ernest Benn himself. The Spectator, in November 1927, after announcing some of the latest additions to "Messrs Benn's excellent Sixpenny Library" devoted a further paragraph to his contribution on Trade. Partial lists of the books published in the series can be found here and here.
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.
New Mermaids is a series of critical editions of important English plays. They were published from the early 1960s by Ernest Benn Limited and later by A & C Black. They feature lengthy introductions and annotated texts in modern spellings. Most New Mermaids editions are of English Renaissance plays, but the series also includes some Restoration drama and plays by Oscar Wilde.
Frederick Abbott Stokes was an American publisher, founder and long-time head of the eponymous Frederick A. Stokes Company.
Batsford Books is an independent British book publisher.
John Leofric Stocks DSO was a British philosopher and was briefly Vice Chancellor of the University of Liverpool in 1937.
Williams and Norgate were publishers and book importers in London and Edinburgh. They specialized in both British and foreign scholarly and scientific literature.
Tolley is a British publishing company that publishes reference books on tax.
Studio Vista was a British publishing company founded in 1961 that specialised in leisure and design topics. In the 1960s, the firm published works by a number of authors who went on to be noted designers.
Sun Books was an Australian publisher of paperback books, founded in Melbourne in 1965 by Geoffrey Dutton, Max Harris and Brian Stonier. Sun's three founders were all former employees of Penguin Australia who, having grown frustrated by the latter's tepid interest in home-grown content, had resigned in order to establish the imprint, envisioned as a publisher of “quality paperbacks for the sophisticated Australian reader”, and a platform for local literary talent. Prior to its acquisition by Macmillan in 1981, Sun had published over 330 titles, of which 187 were first editions.
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.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |