Routledge Library Editions: Publishing and Printing – serie

Originally published in 1990 and written with full access to the official records of the NGA, this book provides a remarkably detailed history of one of Britain’s most democratic and industrially effective trades unions. The author describes and analyses the evolution and development of the NGA from 1948 to 1989. This is, however, more than a study of one trade union. It provides unparalleled insight into post-war industrial relations in the general printing and newspaper industry and a unique account and analysis of the impact of the most radical industrial revolution ever experienced in these industries. It also stands alone as a fascinating inquiry into the anatomy of union mergers.The book is arranged in four parts. The first deals with the NGA and its founding unions’ relationship with other printing unions, the formation of the NGA in 1964, and the formation of the NGA (1982) in March 1982. The second part deals with the decision-making and financial structure of the NGA, whilst the third part analyses its relationship with the TUC and the Labour Party. The final part deals with the relationship with employers, and covers such central issue as wages, hours of work, holidays, pensions and women’s issues.A History of the National Graphical Association will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of industrial relations, labour history and contemporary British politics.

Originally published in 1998, when for two centuries Taylor & Francis had been committed to the publication of scholarly information. Ever since the launching of the Philosophical Magazine in 1798, the publishing company run by Richard Taylor and later by William Francis has specialised in the printing and publishing of scientific periodicals and books. Both founders wrote original scientific papers, and through close involvement with the scientific societies of London, and dedication to the business of scientific communication, both nationally and internationally, developed a high reputation for the quality of their publications.With the proliferation of periodicals and information generated by learned societies at the turn of the twentieth century, Taylor & Francis also became pioneers in the field of abstracting journals. This pioneering spirit remained at the time with the company at the forefront of the development of on-line electronic journals.Taylor & Francis publishes books and periodicals in the fields of science, engineering, social science and humanities yet continues to publish many of the early journals, including the Philosophical Magazine, whose current aims have evolved to meet the needs of modern physicists.The company had grown dramatically in the previous 15 years, being transformed from a small family business into a thriving international company with publishing offices in the UK and the USA (now in 14 countries worldwide), yet it was still one in which leading scientists were shareholders and directors.The story of the development of Taylor & Francis in this book is much more than an isolated account of one small company – it throws light on the whole process of scientific communication during the previous 200 years. In this bicentenary edition the story of the company’s growth into a significant academic publishing player was brought right up to date within the context of late twentieth century publishing innovation and expansion. Today T&F continues to go from strength to strength.

William Strahan was one of the leading figures in the book trade of the eighteenth century. As King’s Printer, a member of Parliament and the owner of the greatest printing house in London, he stood at the head of his craft: in addition to his long friendship and business connection with Johnson, he was the publisher of Gibbon, Adam Smith, Hume and Robertson. His intimacy with Benjamin Franklin led him to extend to America his lively interest in politics as well as trade.Originally published in 1964, Strahan’s career had for the most part been relegated to footnotes in the biographies of other men. This was the first full length survey of his life as a whole. The author, who had himself been both publisher and printer, had been able to draw upon much hitherto unpublished material in collections in this country and the United States, Strahan was an admirable letter writer, and his correspondence with authors, booksellers and printers touches on many problems still relevant at the time – the earnings of writers, bestsellers and flops, price-cutting and piracy, long credit and bad debts. The book is thus a portrait of the book trade at a particularly interesting stage of its development as well as the story of a remarkable career.

Originally published in 1958, through a series of lively biographies of men important in the history of printing – Gutenberg, Caxton, Baskerville, Caslon, Senefelder, Koenig, Mergenthaler, and Lanston – Pioneers in Printing traces the growth and development of the craft of printing from its invention in the fifteenth century to modern times. The aim of the book is not to recount the technicalities of machinery, but rather to present each character as a living man engrossed in his ideas and pursuing them persistently, in conflict or in agreement with his period. The book is written in a clear and easy style, free of technical terms.

With the development of new technologies over the previous decade and more moderately priced and faster systems becoming available Electronic Publishing, originally published in 1987, provided a much-needed close look at present and potential publishing techniques at the time. In the view of the author the relatively new electronic and optical media were expected to integrate with or supplement flourishing media such as books, looseleaf publications and journals.The aim of this book was to guide those people confronted with the new information technology, be they professionals or the generally interested reader, through the complex problems associated with this medium. Topics covered include: the sources from which information may be obtained, which channels and delivery systems should be used, and the problem of abstracting the mass of information available. Emphasis is on the new user and the author attempts to formulate a new appreciation of informational content as a vital source for society. Today, with electronic publishing at the forefront of the publishing industry as a whole, it can be read in its historical context.

Originally published in 1934, The House of Routledge, 1834-1934, was published for the company’s centenary. It tells the story of George Routledge and how he forged his way to the forefront of publishing by ‘sheer indomitable energy’. One of the objects of the work was to place on record the crowded story of his life. Turning back many forgotten or half-forgotten pages of literary and publishing history – with their glimpses of bygone haunts; of buccaneering practices in the bad old days before copyright brought protection at long last to English and American authors alike; of “Yellow Backs” and other Victorian libraries. It also covers the fortunes of other associated publishing houses of the time.

Originally published in 1955, From Swan Sonnenschein to George Allen & Unwin Ltd states that the lives of certain publishing houses are a direct reflection of the cultural history of the period in which they work. They draw their successes from the intellectual enthusiasms of the time and in no small measure contribute towards the education of their contemporaries. Of this sort of publisher no better examples could be found at the end of the nineteenth century than Swan Sonnenschein and George Allen. Both were men of serious purpose, with a sense of mission in their business activities. Sonnenschein, who later changed his name to Stallybrass, was the publisher of Bernard Shaw’s novels, of George Moore’s Confessions of a Young Man; the first English edition of Marx’s Capital; J. M. Barrie’s first novel, Better Dead; Edwards Carpenter’s Towards Democracy; and besides an immense list of books on Social Science – which were far ahead of their time – he launched, with Professor J. H. Muirhead, the famous Library of Philosophy.George Allen’s business was founded exclusively upon Ruskin’s works, but later he published for Augustus Hare, Maurice Maeterlinck and Hillaire Belloc.Such was the foundation upon which Stanley Unwin was able to build in 1914, when he acquired the assets of the combined firms of Sonnenschein and Allen.

Originally published in 1960, the early history of news-gathering, of advertisement blocks and displayed advertising, of women’s magazine, are among the varied aspects of the London printing trade discussed in this book. Separate chapters are devoted to jobbing printing and the controversial, competitive Bible patent. The considerable technical information includes detailed descriptions of nineteenth-century presses.Besides an account of the struggle for power in the Stationers’ Company at certain periods, the livelier – and often more ruthless – personalities in the London trade, such as John Wolfe, Robert Barker I, Miles Flesher, Henry Hills and John Bell are vigorously described.Every section is generously illustrated in line and half-tone with material much of which was previously unreproduced.The easy style and wide range of Printing in London will rouse the interest of both the specialist – in advertising, in libraries and in the trade itself – and of the general reader who wants to know more about the history of printing.

Originally published in 1957, The Book World Today was the most comprehensive survey yet attempted of the making and distribution of books in Britain at the time. All the main aspects and problems of this complicated process are expounded by men of high standing in their own fields, who wrote from expert knowledge. Anyone who earned their living from books, was likely to find here facts and ideas which were new to them.The book has been edited mainly from the publisher’s point of view, and publishing is given particularly full treatment. But the author, the agent, the booksellers, the librarians and the other contributors state their cases freely, often expressing views which clash, sometimes violently, with those of the publishers. It is this clash of opinion which gives the book its great importance. It would have been challenging, stimulating and of practical value to those inside the trade at the time while others would find in it much of interest. Today it can be read in its historical context.

Originally published in 1939, British Book Trade Organisation: A Report on the Work of the Joint Committee is a twelve-year study of the methods of book sales in Britain. The Joint Committee issued three reports, which were summarised here along with the Committee’s Recommendations, and an indication of the kind if action that had since resulted. A crucial factor in the push for further reforms that followed, today this title can be read in its historical context.

Everyone knows the name of Hansard, the famous record of Parliamentary proceedings. Very few people know how it began. Originally published in 1952, here was for the first time, the authoritative history of the Hansard family and of its work, for nearly 100 years, as Parliamentary printers in charge of the Journals of the House of Commons and of the full record of debates that still bears the family name. Full of surprising and important detail, it was written largely from unpublished papers, letters, and the manuscript diaries of Luke Graves Hansard, son of old Luke, founder of the printing dynasty.Luke Hansard (1752–1828), a young man from Norwich, succeeded his partner Henry Hughs as Printer to the House. His name was known to all the politicians and many of the authors of his day, for he was a remarkable character, vigorous and forthright; and this book contains, among much else, a transcript of the brief autobiography he wrote in old age. He and his descendants printed the Journals of the House of Commons until 1890. His eldest son Thomas Curson Hansard, in partnership with William Cobbett, began to print the Parliamentary Debates early in the nineteenth century, and later became sole proprietor. His descendants carried on the business until 1889.This is an authoritative and extremely readable book which will be of value to all students of politics wherever the name Hansard is known – and there are “Hansards” in Australia, Canada and many other parts of the Commonwealth and Empire as well as in Great Britain. It touches on constitutional questions of great importance and explores some fascinating byways of parliamentary history.