Annals of a Publishing House: Volume 2, William Blackwood and his Sons, their Magazine and Friends

The history of one of the most important Scottish publishers, whose books and periodicals dominated the Victorian literary scene.

Margaret Oliphant (Author)

9781108021401, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 4 November 2010

534 pages, 3 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 3 cm, 0.67 kg

Margaret Oliphant (1828–1897) is best known as the author of nearly one hundred novels, but also wrote short stories and biographies. Closely connected with Blackwoods of Edinburgh from 1851, shortly before her death she was commissioned to write a history of the publishing firm by director William Blackwood, grandson of the founder. From small beginnings, the firm had rapidly become the leading Scottish publishing house, dominating the literary world, particularly through Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine and an impressive list of famous authors. These included Thomas de Quincey, Walter Scott, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Magazine introduced the convention of having novels issued in serial form before publication as a book, which became standard practice for authors such as Dickens, Thackeray and Eliot. Volume 2 continues to 1861 and the death of the second William Blackwood, and includes landmarks such as the opening of a London branch, and George Eliot's first novels.

12. Publications
13. New contributors
14. Domestic life
15. Domestic and public life
16. Illness and death
17. The brothers
18. More lights of 'Maga'
19. The metropolitan branch
20. The rank and file
21. London and Edinburgh
22. 37 Paternoster Row
23. The new Blackwood band
24. Major Blackwood
Index.

Subject Areas: Publishing industry & book trade [KNTP]