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Harper & Brothers

From Alfawiki
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Harper & Brothers, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 30 November 20253 sources
Harper
Company typeImprint
IndustryPublishing
PredecessorHarper & Row
Founded1817
FounderJames Harper, John Harper
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
Area served
International
ParentHarperCollins

Harper is a prominent American publishing imprint and serves as the principal brand of the international publisher HarperCollins, headquartered in New York City. Established in 1817 by brothers James Harper and John under the name J. & J. Harper, the firm expanded in the mid-1820s to include their siblings Joseph and Fletcher Harper. The company adopted the name Harper & Brothers in 1833. Starting in the 1850s, it became known for publishing influential magazines such as Harper's Magazine, Harper's Weekly, and Harper's Bazaar. Between 1962 and 1990, following a merger with Row, Peterson & Company, it operated under the name Harper & Row. After being acquired by News Corporation in 1987, Harper & Row merged with UK-based William Collins, Sons in 1990, forming HarperCollins. The Harper brand has been actively used since 2007.

J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)

In 1817, brothers James and John Harper, both skilled printers, founded J. & J. Harper in New York City. By the mid-1820s, their brothers Joseph Wesley and Fletcher had joined the enterprise.

Harper & Brothers (1833–1962)

The business was renamed "Harper & Brothers" in 1833, establishing its headquarters at 331 Pearl Street in Manhattan. During this period, it launched several notable periodicals: Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1850, Harper's Weekly in 1857, Harper's Bazar in 1867, and Harper's Young People in 1879.

George B. M. Harvey assumed the presidency of the company in 1899.

Harper's New Monthly Magazine eventually transformed into today’s independent publication Harper's Magazine, managed by the Harper's Magazine Foundation. Meanwhile, Harper's Weekly merged with The Independent in 1916, which itself later combined with The Outlook. In 1913, William Randolph Hearst acquired Harper's Bazar, renaming it Harper's Bazaar, now under Hearst Corporation’s ownership.

Key figures at Harper & Brothers included Cass Canfield, who joined in 1924 and influenced corporate direction until his passing in 1986; Eugene F. Saxton, who started in 1925 and edited renowned authors such as Edna St. Vincent Millay and Thornton Wilder; and Edward Aswell, editor-in-chief from 1935 onwards, notable for securing Thomas Wolfe’s posthumous manuscripts after persuading him to leave Scribner’s.

Harper & Row (1962–1990)

In 1962, a merger with Row, Peterson & Company resulted in the formation of Harper & Row. The religious publishing division relocated to San Francisco in 1977, becoming known as Harper San Francisco and later rebranded as HarperOne. Throughout the 1970s, Harper & Row expanded by acquiring Thomas Y. Crowell Co. and J. B. Lippincott & Co., integrating their trade publishing operations by 1980. The company further grew in 1988 through the acquisition of religious publisher Zondervan, including its subsidiary Marshall Pickering.

HarperCollins (1990–present)

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation (currently News Corp) purchased Harper & Row in 1987 followed by William Collins, Sons in 1990. These two publishers’ emblems—the torch representing Harper and the fountain symbolizing Collins—were merged to create the HarperCollins identity. Since that time, the firm has broadened its global presence through additional acquisitions of formerly independent publishers. Since 2007, the Harper imprint has been used interchangeably with HarperCollins.

Paperbacks

After News Corporation acquired Harper & Row, HarperCollins introduced a mass-market paperback series to complement its existing trade paperback brand, Perennial. This series was initially known as Harper Paperbacks from 1990 until 2000, then rebranded as HarperTorch between 2000 and 2006, and has been simply called Harper since 2007.

Notable authors and illustrators

See also

Further reading

  • Barnes, James J. "Edward Lytton Bulwer and the Publishing Firm of Harper & Brothers". American Literature (1966): 35–48. .
  • D'Amato, Martina. Template:"'The Harper Establishment'; or, How a New York Publishing Giant Was Made", Visualizing 19th Century New York.
  • Eugene Exman. The brothers Harper: a unique publishing partnership and its impact upon the cultural life of America from 1817 to 1853 (Harper & Row, 1965)
  • Mellman, John A. (2017), "The Harper Torchbooks Series: A History and Personal Assessment", publishinghistory.com.

Primary references

External links

  1. ↑ "Harper Lee, Author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' Is to Publish a Second Novel". The New York Times. February 4, 2015. Archived from the original on July 5, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Men Who Make Pictures". The Weekly Wisconsin. August 26, 1885. p. 6. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Howard Pyle works almost exclusively for the Harpers.
  3. ↑ Template:Britannica

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