A & C Black
Encyclopedia
The firm was founded in 1807 by Adam
Adam Black
Adam Black was a Scottish publisher, and founded the A & C Black publishing company.Black was born in Edinburgh, the son of a builder, and educated at the Royal High School. After serving as an apprentice to a bookseller in Edinburgh and London, he began business for himself in Edinburgh in 1808...
and Charles Black in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, and moved to the Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
district of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1889. In 1851, the firm bought the copyright of Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
's Waverley Novels
Waverley Novels
The Waverley Novels are a long series of books by Sir Walter Scott. For nearly a century they were among the most popular and widely-read novels in all of Europe. Because he did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, they take their name from Waverley , which was the first...
for £27,000. In 1902 it published P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
's first book, The Pothunters
The Pothunters
The Pothunters is a 1902 novel by P. G. Wodehouse. It was Wodehouse's first published novel, and the first of several school stories, this one set at the fictional public school of St...
, and went on to produce many of his early works.
The company is best known as the publisher of the annual Who's Who
Who's Who (UK)
Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...
(since 1897) and also, since 2002, the Whitaker's Almanack
Whitaker's Almanack
Whitaker's Almanack is a reference book, published annually in the United Kingdom. The book was originally published by J Whitaker & Sons from 1868 to 1997, then by The Stationery Office, from 2003 to 2010 by A & C Black and from 2011 by .-Content:...
. Other notable works include Black's Medical Dictionary
Black's Medical Dictionary
Black's Medical Dictionary is a comprehensive medical dictionary featuring definitions of medical terms, concepts and conditions, published by A & C Black Publishers. It was first published in 1906, and is now in its forty-second edition.-List of editors:*J. D. Comrie**1906 – 1942 *H. A....
and the Know The Game series of sports rules and laws reference books http://www.knowthegame.co.uk/default.asp?id=12.
A & C Black purchased both Christopher Helm Publishers and later the Pica Press, publishers of the Helm Identification Guides
Helm Identification Guides
The Helm Identification Guides are a series of books that identify groups of birds. The series include two types of guides, those that are:* Taxonomic, dealing with a particular family of birds on a worldwide scale—most early Helm Guides were this type, as well as many more-recent ones,...
, from Christopher Helm
Christopher Helm
Christopher Alexander Roger Helm was a Scottish book publisher, notably of ornithology related titles, including the Helm Identification Guides....
.
In June 2002, T & A D Poyser and their back-list of around 70 ornithology
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
titles were acquired from Elsevier Science.
A & C Black purchased Methuen Drama from Methuen Publishing in 2006, and acquired Arden Shakespeare
Arden Shakespeare
The Arden Shakespeare is a long-running series of scholarly editions of the works of William Shakespeare. It presents fully edited modern-spelling editions of the plays and poems, with lengthy introductions and full commentaries...
from Cengage Learning
Cengage Learning
Cengage Learning is a publisher of print and digital information services for the academic, professional and library markets, and delivers customized learning solutions for colleges, universities, professors, students, libraries, government agencies, corporations and professionals around the...
in 2008.
The company is now part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Bloomsbury Publishing plc is an independent, London-based publishing house known for literary novels. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. The company's growth over the past decade is primarily attributable to the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Bloomsbury was named Publisher of...
, who purchased it in 2000, and produces that company's range of reference work
Reference work
A reference work is a compendium of information, usually of a specific type, compiled in a book for ease of reference. That is, the information is intended to be quickly found when needed. Reference works are usually referred to for particular pieces of information, rather than read beginning to end...
s.
Notable Books
- Black's Medical DictionaryBlack's Medical DictionaryBlack's Medical Dictionary is a comprehensive medical dictionary featuring definitions of medical terms, concepts and conditions, published by A & C Black Publishers. It was first published in 1906, and is now in its forty-second edition.-List of editors:*J. D. Comrie**1906 – 1942 *H. A....
- Whitaker's AlmanackWhitaker's AlmanackWhitaker's Almanack is a reference book, published annually in the United Kingdom. The book was originally published by J Whitaker & Sons from 1868 to 1997, then by The Stationery Office, from 2003 to 2010 by A & C Black and from 2011 by .-Content:...
- Who's WhoWho's Who (UK)Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...
- Wisden Cricketers' AlmanackWisden Cricketers' AlmanackWisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
- Writers' & Artists' Yearbook
Imprints
- Adlard Coles NauticalAdlard Coles NauticalAdlard Coles Nautical is the largest nautical publisher in the world, with over 300 books in print and publishing 40 new titles every year.The company publishes books on topics of interest to sailors and motorboaters and also ‘landlubbers’ with an interest in the sea...
- Arden ShakespeareArden ShakespeareThe Arden Shakespeare is a long-running series of scholarly editions of the works of William Shakespeare. It presents fully edited modern-spelling editions of the plays and poems, with lengthy introductions and full commentaries...
- Andrew Brodie Publications
- Featherstone
- Methuen Drama
- T & A D Poyser
- Reeds Almanac
- John Wisden & Co