Blackwell's

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Blackwell UK
Waterstones
Websitewww.Blackwells.co.uk

Blackwell UK, also known as Blackwell's and Blackwell Group, is a British academic book retailer and library supply service owned by Waterstones. It was founded in 1879 by Benjamin Henry Blackwell,[4] after whom the chain is named, on Broad Street, Oxford. The brand now has a chain of 18 shops, and an accounts and library supply service. It employs around 1000 staff in its divisions.[1][3]

The Broad Street branches, which include speciality music and

John Wiley & Sons in 2007 for £572 million to form Wiley-Blackwell.[8]

The Blackwell family ran the company until 2022, with an

employee-partnership, similar to that of retailer John Lewis, when the company returned to profitability having spent several years experiencing losses.[9][13] The company reported it was expecting to return to profit in 2012.[9][needs update
]

In February 2022, the UK book chain

Elliott Management Corporation
, bought Blackwell's.

History

The main store in Oxford in 1977

The company was founded in 1879 by

excise duty on alcohol.[4]

The flagship shop at 48–51 Broad Street, Oxford, was originally only twelve feet square but quickly grew to incorporate the upstairs, cellar and neighbouring shops. Benjamin Henry Blackwell was well respected in Oxford and was elected the first Liberal councillor for Oxford North.

Oxford University's Merton College
. He was expected to join the family firm, however, which he did in 1913, after a spell as an apprentice publisher in London. He was tasked with expanding his father's publishing business.

The "Norrington Room", contains more than 160,000 books on 3+ miles of shelving

The first Blackwell publication, Mensæ Secundæ: verses written in

Shakespeare to "3-and-6
novels". The publishing company was merged into the main company in 1921, and a scientific section was added in 1939.

When Benjamin Henry died in 1924, Basil Blackwell took over from his father, and went on to head the company for decades. Basil Blackwell wanted to preserve fine printing. After rescuing the Shakespeare Head Press, he commissioned

Canterbury Tales
.

In 1966, the Norrington Room was opened, named after

Guinness Book of Records as the largest single room selling books.[14]

Recent history

The company has followed a determined policy since the 1990s to spread out from its established Oxford base and take on a much broader UK presence.

In 1995, Blackwell's became the first bookshop in the UK to allow its customers to purchase online from a catalogue of over 150,000 titles, and opened a flagship shop in London the same year, at 100 Charing Cross Road, which is now one of the company's six most prominent shops.[4] Blackwell's took over the Heffers bookshops in Cambridge in 1999, and in 2002 acquired the academic bookshops of James Thin in Scotland.

Both the Oxford and London flagship shops have won Bookseller of the Year at the British Book Awards.[4]

On 29 October 2012,

Nook HD+ tablet computers.[16]

The company remained in the hands of the Blackwell family until February 2022 when it was acquired by Waterstones.[17]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Kleinman, Mark (1 February 2022). "Family-owned bookseller Blackwell's in shop window for first time in 143 years". Sky News. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  2. ^ "• Blackwell's: turnover UK 2019 | Statista".
  3. ^ a b Campbell, Lisa (10 May 2011). "Blackwell cuts 19 from library supply business". The Bookseller. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d e "48 – 51 Broad Street, Oxford". Broad Street Oxford. Headington. Archived from the original on 2 July 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  5. ^ "Blackwell's rationalises Heffers Branches". AllBusiness. 1999. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  6. ^ a b Cave, Andrew (20 April 2002). "Blackwell wins Thin in family feud lull". The Telegraph. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  7. ^ Neilan, Catherine (8 December 2009). "Blackwell Sells Library supply arm". The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  8. ^ Osborne, Alistair (18 November 2006). "Blackwell duo bury hatchet as publisher is sold to John Wiley". The Telegraph. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  9. ^ a b c Denny, Neill (8 September 2010). "Blackwell's to close head office, as power shifts to staff". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  10. ^ Bowers, Simon (23 January 2002). "Blackwell's journal of disquiet". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  11. ^ Wallows, Harry (20 January 2006). "Blackwell's starts fresh chapter". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  12. ^ Denny, Neill (28 May 2009). "Last King of Blackwell's". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  13. ^ Campbell, Lisa (31 March 2011). "Blackwell Group halves losses within a year". The Bookseller. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  14. ISBN 0-900424-00-1
    .
  15. ^ Page, Benedicte (12 October 2012). "Last-minute delay to UK Nook launch". The Bookseller. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  16. ^ Steadman, Ian (26 September 2012), "Barnes & Noble's Nook HD and HD+ tablets will come to UK in November", wired.co.uk. Archived 4 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  17. ^ Bartholomew, Jem (28 February 2022). "Waterstones acquires Blackwell's, the UK's biggest independent bookseller". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2022.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blackwell UK.
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