Bücher von Henry Curwen

A History of Booksellers - the old and the new is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1873.Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Henry Curwen (1845-1892) was a journalist and author who became editor of the Times of India. First published in 1874, A History of Booksellers aimed at providing an informative but entertaining picture of British bookselling and publishing, by means of 'biographies' of the major publishing houses and their output. He begins with a general survey of publishing and bookselling from Roman times to the nineteenth century, including a discussion of copyright legislation. It is clear that by 1800 the demand for books was considerable and growing: Alexander Donaldson, who specialised in cheap reprints of popular works, though repeatedly sued over copyright by other publishers, died in 1794 a very rich man. Many of the firms Curwen discusses are still well-known names, such as Longmans, Chambers, Butterworths and W. H. Smith. He concludes with anecdotes on some of the better known representatives of the provincial book trade.