Heinemann (publisher) facts for kids
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| Founded | 1890 |
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| Successor | Pearson Education (UK education) Hutchinson Heinemann (UK trade) Macmillan Education (ELT) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (US education) HarperCollins (UK children's) Capstone Publishers (school libraries) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters location | |
Heinemann was a famous publishing company. It was started in London, United Kingdom, in 1890 by William Heinemann. The company's first book was The Bondman in 1890. It was a huge hit in the UK and helped the company become well-known.
In 1893, Sydney Pawling joined William Heinemann. After William Heinemann passed away in 1920, Pawling sold the company to Doubleday. Doubleday was an American publisher. Later, in 1933, Doubleday sold its share of Heinemann.
During the 1920s, Heinemann became known for publishing books by famous writers. Many of these books had first appeared in magazines. Some of these authors included H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, and W. Somerset Maugham. This also brought new authors to Heinemann, like Graham Greene and J. B. Priestley. Heinemann also published classic books and books from other countries. After World War II, the company started to focus more on educational books.
In the 1950s, a company called Tilling Group slowly took over Heinemann. Heinemann opened offices in The Hague in 1953 to sell books in Europe. In 1978, they started a separate company in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA. This company sold educational books in the American market.
In 1983, another company called BTR plc bought Tilling. BTR then sold off parts of the company that were not about industry. Heinemann was sold to Octopus Publishing Group. Octopus later joined with Reed International in 1987. Reed International then sold its book publishing parts to Random House in 1997. The part of Heinemann that taught English (ELT) was sold to Macmillan Education in 1998.
Eventually, the rest of Heinemann's international business was sold to Pearson Education. The US part was sold to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2007. Many of these new owners still use the Heinemann name for their books.
Contents
The Beginning of Heinemann Publishing
William Heinemann started his career in publishing with Nicolas Trübner. Trübner was famous for publishing books about Asian studies. After Trübner's death, Heinemann left and started his own company. He named it William Heinemann Ltd. It began in Covent Garden, London, in 1890.
The very first book Heinemann published was The Bondman by Hall Caine. It was a huge hit, selling over 450,000 copies! The company also published books translated into English. These books were part of a series called "Heinemann's International Library." Edmund Gosse was the editor for this series. In 1893, Sydney Pawling became a partner in the company. Heinemann also became known for publishing books by Sarah Grand.
Expanding Horizons with New Books
Between 1895 and 1897, Heinemann published a magazine called New Review. It was edited by William Ernest Henley. Heinemann also sold English books to Japan. Japan was becoming very interested in Western culture at that time. Heinemann sold translations of books by Dostoyevsky to the Japanese bookstore Maruzen. They also sold 5,000 copies of Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropotkin.
In 1912, the company started publishing the Loeb Classical Library series. These books contained ancient Greek or Latin texts on one page. On the opposite page, there was a clear English translation. This series is considered very important for parallel-text translations. Since 1934, Harvard University has helped publish this series.
Changes in Ownership and Direction
When William Heinemann died in 1920, the American publisher Doubleday bought most of the company. Theodore Byard, who used to be a professional singer, became the new leader of the offices.
In 1953, a new company was set up in The Hague. It was first meant to sell English books in Europe. But later, it started printing Heinemann's books directly.
In 1961, a large company called Thomas Tilling bought Heinemann. When authors heard about this, some of them left Heinemann. Graham Greene, who had published with Heinemann since 1929, led many authors to other publishers.
In 1983, BTR bought Thomas Tilling. BTR was not interested in the publishing business. So, Heinemann was put up for sale. Octopus Publishing Group bought Heinemann in 1985. Octopus was later bought by Reed International in 1987.
Heinemann's Divisions and Sales
In 1997, Random House bought Heinemann's trade publishing part. This part published books for general readers. In 1998, Egmont Group bought Heinemann's children's books. Macmillan Education bought the part of Heinemann that taught English.
The remaining educational part of Heinemann became part of Harcourt Education in 2001. In 2007, Pearson bought Harcourt Education's parts in the UK, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Houghton Mifflin bought the American operations a few months later. Pearson sold the school library publisher Heinemann-Raintree to Capstone Publishers in 2008. In 2020, Egmont Group sold its UK book division to HarperCollins. In 2021, Penguin Random House combined William Heinemann with Hutchinson to create Hutchinson Heinemann.
Special Book Series for Young Readers
In 1957, Heinemann Educational Books (HEB) started the African Writers Series. This series focused on publishing books by African writers. Alan Hill and Van Milne helped lead this project. Chinua Achebe was the first advisory editor for the series. Heinemann won an award in 1992 for its work in social progress. Pearson relaunched this series in 2011.
Inspired by the African Writers Series, Leon Comber started the Writing in Asia Series in 1966. This series was based in Singapore. Two books by Austin Coates in this series, Myself a Mandarin and City of Broken Promises, became very popular. The series published over 70 books. However, it ended in 1984 when Heinemann Asia was taken over by another publishing group.
In 1970, the Caribbean Writers Series was launched. It was also based on the African Writers Series. James Currey and others at HEB created it. This series republished works by important Caribbean writers.
