Blackwood (publishing house)

William Blackwood and Sons

Company type	Private
Industry	Publishing, Printing
Founded	1804 (1804)
Founder	William Blackwood
Defunct	1980 (1980)
Headquarters	Edinburgh , Scotland
Products	Books, Magazines (Blackwood's Magazine)

William Blackwood and Sons was a distinguished Scottish publishing house and printing firm established by William Blackwood in 1804. It significantly influenced literary culture by issuing works from numerous notable authors such as John Buchan, George Tomkyns Chesney, Joseph Conrad, Miles Franklin, George Eliot, E. M. Forster, John Galt, John Neal, Thomas De Quincey, Charles Reade, Margaret Oliphant, John Hanning Speke, and Anthony Trollope. These publications appeared both as standalone books and within the pages of the monthly periodical Blackwood’s Magazine.

History

William Blackwood inaugurated a bookstore in 1804 on South Bridge Street, Edinburgh, specializing in antiquarian, rare, and unusual volumes. Initially serving as the Scottish representative for London-based publishers like John Murray, he gradually transitioned into independent publishing, relocating his business to Princes Street in 1816. The debut issue of the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine was released on 1 April 1817; by its seventh edition, it had been renamed Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Commonly referred to as "Maga," this publication became a voice for the Scottish Tory faction and attracted contributions from many leading literary figures.

In May 1824, Blackwood's made history as the first British literary periodical to feature work by an American author, publishing an essay by John Neal that was subsequently reprinted across Europe. Over the following eighteen months, the magazine presented Neal’s American Writers series, recognized as the earliest comprehensive account of American literary history. Their collaboration ended after Blackwood incurred losses publishing Neal's novel Brother Jonathan in late 1825.

By 1829, William Blackwood relocated his premises from Princes Street to 45 George Street, mirroring George Street’s emergence as a commercial hub. His brother Thomas took over 43 George Street, and in 1830, architect Thomas Hamilton redesigned both storefronts for the Blackwood Brothers or Messrs. Blackwood. Thomas managed a silk merchant business there.

Following William Blackwood’s death in 1834, his sons Alexander and Robert assumed control and expanded operations to include a London branch. After their deaths around 1845, their younger sibling, John Blackwood, took leadership. He was later joined by his brother Major William Blackwood until Major William’s death in 1861, when William Blackwood III (born 1836) became a partner. Upon John Blackwood’s passing, William III gained sole management of the firm with assistance from nephews George William and JH Blackwood, sons of Major George Blackwood who fell at Maiwand in 1880.

The final family head of the company was Douglas Blackwood. During World War II, while serving as a fighter pilot, he witnessed from above the destruction of the firm's London office on Paternoster Row amid the Battle of Britain. This catastrophe resulted in the loss of millions of books and marked the beginning of the company's decline. Douglas retired in 1976; by 1980, the firm had merged with another entity.

Books first published by Blackwood

• Edinburgh Encyclopædia (1808), edited by David Brewster
• The Pilgrim of the Sun (1814), authored by James Hogg
• Mador of the Moor (1816), written by James Hogg
• The Black Dwarf (1816), by Walter Scott
• Brother Jonathan: or, the New Englanders (1825), by John Neal
• The Course of Time (1827), composed by Robert Pollok
• Ten Thousand a-Year (1841), penned by Samuel Warren
• Scenes of Clerical Life (1857), by George Eliot
• Adam Bede (1859), authored by George Eliot
• The Lifted Veil (1859), by George Eliot
• The Mill on the Floss (1860), written by George Eliot
• Silas Marner (1861), George Eliot's work
• Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), authored by George Eliot
• Middlemarch (1871–1872), by George Eliot
• Daniel Deronda (1876), penned by George Eliot
• Impressions of Theophrastus Such (1879), authored by George Eliot
• The Fixed Period (1882), written by Anthony Trollope
• Scottish land-names; their origin and meaning (1894), by Herbert Maxwell
• The Lost Stradivarius (1895), authored by J. Meade Falkner
• My Brilliant Career (1901), written by Miles Franklin
• Youth (1902), by Joseph Conrad
• William Wetmore Story and His Friends (1903), authored by Henry James
• Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), penned by E. M. Forster
• Significant Etymology: Or, Roots, Stems, and Branches of the English Language (1908), by James Mitchell
• Prester John (1910), written by John Buchan
• The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915), authored by John Buchan
• The Power-House (1916), penned by John Buchan
• The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (1922), authored by Frederick D. Lugard
• The Courts of the Morning (1929), written by John Buchan
• The Curve of Time (1961), authored by M. Wylie Blanchet

Book series released by Blackwood

• Ancient Classics for the English Reader
• Foreign Classics for the English Reader
• Periods of European Literature
• Philosophical Classics for the English Reader

Works first appearing in Blackwood's Magazine

• Noctes Ambrosianae (1822–1835), contributed to by James Hogg, John Gibson Lockhart, William Maginn, John Wilson, among others
• American Writers (1824–1825), authored by John Neal
• On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts (1827), written by Thomas De Quincey
• The Iron Shroud (1830), penned by William Mudford
• The English Mail-Coach (1849), composed by Thomas De Quincey
• The Battle of Dorking (1871), authored by George Tomkyns Chesney
• The Fixed Period (1881), written by Anthony Trollope
• Youth, Heart of Darkness, and Lord Jim (1898–1899), works of Joseph Conrad
• The Highwayman (1906), composed by Alfred Noyes
• The Power-House (1913), authored by John Buchan

See also

• How to Write a Blackwood Article, penned by Edgar Allan Poe

References

Attribution

Further reading

• Oliphant, Margaret, Annals of a Publishing House: William Blackwood and His Sons, Their Magazine and Friends. New York, C. Scribner's Sons, 1897–98. 2 vols.
• Porter, Mary Blackwood (Mrs. Gerald Porter), Annals of a Publishing House: John Blackwood, by his Daughter. Edinburgh and London, William Blackwood and Sons, 1898.
• Finkelstein, David, The House of Blackwood: Author-Publisher Relations in the Victorian Era, Penn State Press, 2001