Constable & Robinson#History

Constable & Co. was founded in 1795 by Archibald Constable, and became the publisher of works by Sir Walter Scott. In 1897, Constable released the well-known horror novel, Bram Stoker's The Un-Dead, albeit with a last-minute title change to Dracula.

In 1813, the company was the first publishing company to give an author advance against royalties. {{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

In 1821, it introduced the standard three-volume novel, and in 1826, with the launch of the book series Constable's Miscellany, it became the first publisher to produce mass-market literary editions. {{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

By 1921, Constable & Robinson Ltd. was the first publishing house to advertising books on the London Underground. {{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Ralph Arnold joined the firm in 1936, rising to chairman between 1958 and 1961. In his memoir Orange Street and Brickhole Lane (1963) he described the firm as having "a strangely endearing persona".'Mr Ralph Arnold', in The Times, 24 September 1970, p. 12

In 1993, Constable & Co. pioneered the series-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy self-help publishing, and in 2000, they became the first ad-supported, online book publisher. Lastly, in 2013, Constable & Robinson were a key partner in Digital Innovation Contest 2013. {{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Robinson Publishing Ltd was founded in 1983 by Nick Robinson. The two companies merged in December 1999. Constable & Robinson continue to publish non-fiction books under the Constable imprint and is therefore probably the oldest independent publishing house in the English-speaking world still trading under the name of its founder. In June 2007, Elliot Right Way Books, a successful small publisher of "how-to" titles and the publisher of compendia of speeches by Enoch Powell,{{Cite web|url=https://copac.jisc.ac.uk/id/34701393?style=html&title=Freedom%20and%20reality|title=Freedom and Reality (COPAC Record)}} came under the umbrella of Constable & Robinson Ltd.[http://www.thebookseller.com/news/cr-buys-elliot-right-way.html C&R buys Elliot Right Way – The Bookseller] Retrieved 10 October 2012.

A new fiction imprint, Corsair, was launched in October 2009, dedicated to publishing groundbreaking debut fiction alongside established authors.[http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=news&news_item=152&start=90&num=10 Our new fiction imprint, CORSAIR, sets sail] Retrieved 10 October 2012. On the back of its success, the company launched the Canvas imprint in December 2011 to focus on commercial fiction.[http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=news&news_item=230&start=10&num=10 Constable & Robinson to launch new commercial fiction list, Canvas] Retrieved 10 October 2012. A bijou imprint of Corsair, Much-in-Little, was launched in April 2012 and will become home to quirky and imaginative new children's and YA fiction.[http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=news&news_item=238&start=10&num=10 New fiction books imprint for children and young adults: Much-in-Little] Retrieved 10 October 2012.

Constable & Robinson also publishes a non-fiction list including current affairs, history and biography, humour and psychology, as well as crime fiction, and literary fiction in both hardback and paperback. Best known are the longstanding Mammoth paperback list of anthologies and collections, the Overcoming CBT self-help titles, and the history series of Brief Guides and Brief Histories.

Constable & Robinson is the UK publisher of the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth crime fiction titles by M. C. Beaton.

In 2013, Constable & Robinson created controversy when it responded to a manuscript submission by J. K. Rowling by suggesting that she attend a writing course. The novel, The Cuckoo's Calling, was published by a competitor, reprinted three times, and was adapted for television.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35899243|title=JK Rowling shares rejection letters|date=25 March 2016|access-date=6 April 2018|via=www.bbc.co.uk|work=BBC News}}

In 2014, Constable & Robinson was purchased by the Little, Brown Book Group.{{cite web|url=http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=about_us|title=Welcome to Little, Brown Book Group|website=constablerobinson.com|access-date=6 April 2018}}

In 2011, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, published under the Corsair imprint in the UK, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 2012, Constable & Robinson was named the IPG Independent Publisher of the Year, calling it "a publisher on a roll — a rising star in a difficult market".[http://www.ipg.uk.com/awards Awards | Independent Publishers Guild in the UK] Retrieved 10 October 2012. The same year, the company was also named Independent Publisher of the Year at The Bookseller Industry Awards.[http://www.thebookseller.com/news/harper-foyles-triumph-bookseller-awards.html Harper & Foyles triumph at Bookseller Awards – The Bookseller] Retrieved 10 October 2012. Constable & Robinson also won the IPG Trade Publisher of the Year award in 2013.[http://www.ipg.uk.com/?id=-1157] IPG Trade Publisher of the Year in 2013.

• Thomas Constable (printer and publisher)

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150205040057/http://www.constablerobinson.com/ Official website] (archived)
• [https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/ Little, Brown Book Group]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20180810225824/http://crcrime.co.uk/ C&R Crime]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081221014500/http://www.agatharaisin.com/ Agatha Raisin]

{{Louis Hachette Group}}

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Category:1999 establishments in England

Category:Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom

Category:British companies established in 1999

Category:Companies based in Edinburgh

Category:Companies based in the London Borough of Camden

Category:Publishing companies established in 1999