Simpkin & Marshall was a British bookseller, wholesaler and publisher. The firm was founded in 1819 and traded until the 1940s. [1] For many decades the firm was Britain's largest book wholesaler [2] and a respected family-owned company, [3] but it was acquired by the media proprietor Robert Maxwell and went bankrupt in 1954, an event which, according to Lionel Leventhal, "sounded a warning to the book trade about Captain Robert Maxwell's way of doing business". [4]
In the years just before 1814 Benjamin Crosby and two assistants, William Simpkin (whose daughter married the publisher Henry George Bohn) [5] and Richard Marshall, ran a firm "supplying provincial firms with books and acting as an agent for their publications". [2] Following Crosby's illness with paralysis in 1814, the firm became known as Simpkin and Marshall. [2]
In 1828 the firm changed its name to Simpkin, Marshall & Co. and in 1837 it was based at Stationers' Hall Court, London. The firm became the largest book wholesaler in the United Kingdom. [2]
In 1889 the three firms, Simpkin, Marshall & Co. Hamilton, Adams & Co., and W. Kent & Co., merged to form Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. The firm was, however, still generally referred to by the general public as Simpkin & Marshall. By 1900 the firm enjoyed "almost monopoly status as a book wholesaler". [2]
As a book publisher Simpkin & Marshall was a generalist, with numerous fiction and nonfiction titles. In the second half of the nineteenth century it published many yellowback and paperback books, including the series "The Run and Read Library", [6] the "Bristol Library" and "almost all of the novels" of the popular Victorian novelist Mary E. Braddon. [2] [7]
In the early 1950s Simpkin Marshall, as the firm was then commonly known, was a book wholesaler with debts of $A575,000. [8] Robert Maxwell purchased it for the sum of $A115,000 [8] and it continued to operate as a publishing warehouse company and a wholesale book distribution company within his business empire. [9] He used the company to raise funds, on which it paid interest, but then made generous interest-free loans to his private companies. In four years, he "ran the company into the ground". [8] According to Edward Pearce, Maxwell had used the "high reputation of the old-fashioned family company he had taken over... for purposes of predatory credit". [3] Simpkin, Marshall was declared insolvent in 1954 [10] and its assets and good will were purchased by Hatchards. [11]
Book series published by Simpkin & Marshall and by Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. included:
Simpkin & Marshall was a British bookseller, wholesaler and publisher. The firm was founded in 1819 and traded until the 1940s. [1] For many decades the firm was Britain's largest book wholesaler [2] and a respected family-owned company, [3] but it was acquired by the media proprietor Robert Maxwell and went bankrupt in 1954, an event which, according to Lionel Leventhal, "sounded a warning to the book trade about Captain Robert Maxwell's way of doing business". [4]
In the years just before 1814 Benjamin Crosby and two assistants, William Simpkin (whose daughter married the publisher Henry George Bohn) [5] and Richard Marshall, ran a firm "supplying provincial firms with books and acting as an agent for their publications". [2] Following Crosby's illness with paralysis in 1814, the firm became known as Simpkin and Marshall. [2]
In 1828 the firm changed its name to Simpkin, Marshall & Co. and in 1837 it was based at Stationers' Hall Court, London. The firm became the largest book wholesaler in the United Kingdom. [2]
In 1889 the three firms, Simpkin, Marshall & Co. Hamilton, Adams & Co., and W. Kent & Co., merged to form Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. The firm was, however, still generally referred to by the general public as Simpkin & Marshall. By 1900 the firm enjoyed "almost monopoly status as a book wholesaler". [2]
As a book publisher Simpkin & Marshall was a generalist, with numerous fiction and nonfiction titles. In the second half of the nineteenth century it published many yellowback and paperback books, including the series "The Run and Read Library", [6] the "Bristol Library" and "almost all of the novels" of the popular Victorian novelist Mary E. Braddon. [2] [7]
In the early 1950s Simpkin Marshall, as the firm was then commonly known, was a book wholesaler with debts of $A575,000. [8] Robert Maxwell purchased it for the sum of $A115,000 [8] and it continued to operate as a publishing warehouse company and a wholesale book distribution company within his business empire. [9] He used the company to raise funds, on which it paid interest, but then made generous interest-free loans to his private companies. In four years, he "ran the company into the ground". [8] According to Edward Pearce, Maxwell had used the "high reputation of the old-fashioned family company he had taken over... for purposes of predatory credit". [3] Simpkin, Marshall was declared insolvent in 1954 [10] and its assets and good will were purchased by Hatchards. [11]
Book series published by Simpkin & Marshall and by Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. included: