Macmillan: A Publishing Tradition, 1843-1970

For over 150 years, since its founding in 1843, Macmillan has been at the heart of British publishing. This collection of essays, representing research in the archives at the British Library, examines the firm's astute business strategy during the 19th century, its successful expansion into overseas markets in America and India, and its complex and intriguing relations with authors such as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Hardy, Alfred Lord Tennyson, W.B. Yeats, and J.M. Keynes, with additional chapters on "Macmillan Magazine" and the work of a modern children's editor.

Table of Contents:
List of Plates Foreword: J.Sutherland Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Abbreviations Introduction Macmillan Biographies, 1843-1965, and Chronology: Compiled by J.Handford 'To you in your vast business': Some Features of the Quantitative History of Macmillan, 1843-91; S.Eliot From Parnassus to Grub Street: Matthew Arnold and the House of Macmillan; B.Bell Thomas Hardy and the House of Macmillan: A Comedy in Chapters; M.Millgate A Note on 'Macmillan's Magazine'; Margaret Oliphant and 'Macmillan's Magazine'; G.Worth 'Letters to Macmillan': An Addendum. Sir Samuel White Baker's Letters to Macmillan; M.Bott 'And Sacred is the Latest Word': Macmillan and Tennyson's 'final' text; M.Millgate Macmillan in India: A Short Account of the Company's Trade with the Subcontinent, of the People who Traded and the Goods they Sold, of the Problems they Faced, the Solutions they Found and the Profits they Made; R.B.Chatterjee Letters from America: The Bretts and the Macmillan Company in New York; E.James W.B.Yeats on the Road to St. Martin's Street, 1900-1917; W.Gould A Risk-Bearing Author: Maynard Keynes and His Publishers; D.E.Moggridge 'Not a Tear or a Prayer in it': Gwen Raverat's Illustrated Edition of The Runaway ; F.Spalding From Carroll to Crompton: The Work of a Children's Publisher; M.Wace Macmillan: or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since; N.Barker Index

About the Author :
ELIZABETH JAMES is Curator of British Collections, 1801-1914 at The British Library, and an Associate Fellow of the Institute of English Studies, University of London. AE(00): Foreword by JOHN SUTHERLAND

Review :
'...the range and diversity of these records are such that their material is pertinent to research into practically all aspects of publishing history. Macmillan: A Publishing Tradition is an accessible book that should appeal not only to literary and book historians and to those teaching publishing history, but also to the general reader.' - Jane Potter, New Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford - Sharp News 'Elizabeth James of the British Library has gathered a group of contributors which includes academics, archivists and former members of the Macmillan staff. What they have produced is not a history of the publishing house but a number of insights into differing aspects of the Macmillan story.' - Durrants Library and Information Update 'Combined contributions exhibit the versatility of scholarship that a near-complete publisher's archive can enable...the range of scrupulously researched individual elements of Macmillan is a fine indicator of the diverse directions of analysis and interpretation being developed by scholars of publishing history.' - Christopher Phipps, Times Higher Education Supplement