Curated playlist
Book publishing companies based in London
- Pluto PressPluto Press opened its doors in London in 1969, founded by Richard Kuper with a purpose that was anything but modest: to support and promote political debate and activism. More than five decades later, it still describes itself as…
- HarperCollinsHarperCollins traces its name to two companies that never met until one man decided to buy them both. James Harper and his brother John founded J & J Harper in New York in 1817. Two years later, in 1819, a Presbyterian schoolmaster named…
- Weidenfeld & NicolsonGeorge Weidenfeld and Nigel Nicolson opened their doors in 1949 with a reception at Brown's Hotel in London. This British publisher of fiction and reference books began its journey that year. Their initial strategy involved releasing works…
- Faber & FaberFaber and Faber chose its own name. When Geoffrey Faber dissolved his partnership with the Gwyer family in 1929 and struck out alone, he called the new firm Faber and Faber, despite there being no second Faber anywhere in the picture. The…
- Thames & HudsonThames & Hudson has been putting museum-quality art into the hands of ordinary readers since 1949. Its founder, Walter Neurath, had a phrase for what he was trying to build: a "museum without walls". That phrase captures everything the…
- Methuen PublishingMethuen Publishing once agreed to destroy 1,011 copies of a novel carrying its own name, offering no defense in court. That retreat still raises a question the firm never answered outright: why did it choose silence over defending one of…
- Bloomsbury PublishingBloomsbury Publishing, based on Bedford Square in the London Borough of Camden, was founded by Nigel Newton in 1986. Newton had worked at other publishing companies before establishing his own house. For much of its existence, the company…
- Penguin GroupThe year 1935 marked the birth of Penguin Books in England. A man named Allen Lane launched a new kind of book with a simple goal. He wanted to make good literature affordable for everyone. The first titles cost sixpence each, which was…
- Pearson EducationPearson Education sits quietly behind some of the most familiar textbooks, tests, and digital learning tools in the world. Its logo features the interrobang, that unusual hybrid of a question mark and an exclamation point, chosen to convey…
- Orion Publishing GroupOrion Publishing Group began its life in 1991, arriving as an independent British publisher at a moment when the London book trade was about to reshape itself around a handful of powerful parent companies. Within its first year, Orion had…