Longman

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Pearson Longman
Pearson PLC
Country of originEngland
Headquarters locationHarlow
Publication typesReference works, textbooks
ImprintsPearson Longman
Official websitewww.pearsonelt.com

Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a

Pearson PLC
.

Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also used for the Longman Schools in China and the Longman Dictionary.

History

Beginnings

Thomas Longman

The Longman company was founded by

Ship,[1] premises at that time having signs rather than numbers, and became the publishing house premises.[citation needed
]

Longman entered into partnership with his father-in-law, Osborn, who held one-sixth of the shares in

Cyclopaedia (1728). Longman himself was one of the six booksellers, who undertook the responsibility of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary (1746–1755).[1]

Second and third generations

In 1754, Longman took into partnership his nephew, Thomas Longman (1730–1797), and the title of the firm became 'T. and T. Longman'. Upon the death of his uncle in 1755, Longman became sole proprietor. He greatly extended the colonial trade of the firm. In 1794, he took Owen Rees as a partner;[1][2] in the same year, Thomas Brown (c. 1777–1869) entered the house as an apprentice.[1]

Longman had three sons. Of these, Thomas Norton Longman (1771–1842) succeeded to the business. In 1804, two more partners, including Edward Orme & Thomas Hurst, were admitted, and the former apprentice Brown became a partner in 1811; in 1824, the title of the firm was changed to 'Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green'. A document of 1823 "Grant of Land in the Concan" printed by the firm under this name shows the name change was from 1823 or earlier.

In 1799, Longman purchased the copyright of

Scott, and acted as London agent for the Edinburgh Review, which was started in 1802.[1] In 1802 appeared the first part of Rees's Cyclopædia, edited by Abraham Rees. This was completed in 39 volumes plus 6 volumes of plates in 1819.[citation needed
]

In 1814 arrangements were made with Thomas Moore for the publication of Laila Rookh, for which he was paid £3000; and when Archibald Constable failed in 1826, Longmans became the proprietors of the Edinburgh Review. They issued in 1829 Lardner's Cabinet Encyclopaedia, and in 1832 McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary.[1]

Fourth and fifth generations

Thomas Norton Longman died on 29 August 1842, leaving his two sons,

Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome, which was followed in 1841 by the issue of the first two volumes of his History of England, which after a few years had a sale of 40000 copies.[1]

Thomas Norton Longman (1849–1930)

The two brothers were well known for their literary talent. Thomas Longman edited a beautifully illustrated edition of the

Edward III (1873). In 1863, the firm took over the business of John William Parker, and with it Fraser's Magazine, and the publication of the works of John Stuart Mill and James Anthony Froude; while in 1890 they incorporated with their own all the publications of the old firm of Rivington, established in 1711.[4] The family control of the firm (later 'Longmans, Green & Co.') was continued by Thomas Norton Longman, son of Thomas Longman.[1]
In 1884 the firm employed John William Allen as an educationalist. Allen grew the firm's educational list, including textbooks he wrote himself. He later inherited the shares of W. E. Green and became a shareholder in 1918.

1900 onwards

In December 1940, Longman's Paternoster Row offices were destroyed

The Financial Times, in 1968. Longman's medical lists was merged with other Pearson subsidiaries to form Churchill Livingstone in 1972. Also in 1972, Mark Longman, last of the Longman family to run the company, died.[7]

Longman continued to exist as an imprint of Pearson, under the name 'Pearson Longman'. Pearson Longman specialized in English, including English as a second or foreign language, history, economics, philosophy, political science, and religion.

Longman is now primarily used by Pearson's ELT business (English Language Teaching). The Longman brand is now only used for the Longman Schools in China and oddments such as the Longman Dictionary and Kennedy's Revised Latin Primer. All other textbooks and products use the Pearson brand/imprint.

Longman imprints

Longman imprints:[8]

  • 1724 T. Longman
  • 1725 J. Osborn and T. Longman
  • 1734 T. Longman
  • 1745 T. Longman and T. Shewell
  • 1747 T. Longman
  • 1753 T. and T. Longman
  • 1755 M. and T. Longman
  • 1755 T. Longman
  • 1793 T. N. Longman. Also T. Longman
  • 1797 Messrs. Longman and Rees
  • 1799 T. N. Longman and O. Rees
  • 1800 Longman and Rees
  • 1804 Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme
  • 1811 Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown
  • 1823 Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green
  • 1825 Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green
  • 1832 Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans
  • 1838 Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans
  • 1840 Longman, Orme & Co.
  • 1841 Longman, Brown & Co.
  • 1842 Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans
  • 1856 Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts
  • 1859 Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts
  • 1862 Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green
  • 1865 Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer
  • 1880 Longmans, Green & Co.
  • 1926 Longmans, Green & Co. (Ltd.)
  • 1959 Longmans
  • 1969 Longman

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Chisholm 1911, p. 984.
  2. ^ Gordon 1896.
  3. ^ Treasure 1997, p. [page needed].
  4. ^ Chisholm 1911b, p. 387.
  5. ^ Museum of London. "Bomb damage to Paternoster Square during the Blitz". Exploring 20th Century London. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  6. ^ www.bibliopolis.com. "A HISTORY OF LONGMANS AND THEIR BOOKS, 1724-1990: LONGEVITY IN PUBLISHING by Asa Briggs on Oak Knoll". Oak Knoll. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Mark Longman Dies at 55; Head of British Publishers". New York Times. 8 September 1972.
  8. ^ Briggs 2008, Appendix 2.

References

Attribution:

Further reading

External links

Media related to Longman (publisher) at Wikimedia Commons