Macmillan celebrates 175 years of publishing
February 12 2018
“If a large tree grows from this small seed we shall be grateful.
Daniel Macmillan, London, 1843
'What Alexander handed down... was a tradition or, more truly, a marked character'
Charles Morgan, The House of Macmillan, 1943
- Pan Macmillan, Springer Nature and Macmillan companies around the world celebrate foundation of Macmillan in 1843
- Branded presence across festivals, events and the three major book fairs
- Roundtable events at The Future of Knowledge symposium (UK)
- Initiatives for independent booksellers to be launched in February (UK)
- New edition of The Golden Treasury ed. FT Palgrave to be published in October
Macmillan publishers will celebrate their 175th anniversary in 2018.
Reflecting on a rich and fascinating heritage and the foundations established by two entrepreneurial and inspiring brothers, Daniel and Alexander, today’s Macmillan publishers will use the occasion to celebrate the distinct family feel and personality of the business. Activities planned throughout the year will remind everyone of the passion and commitment that has brought Pan Macmillan, Palgrave Macmillan and Macmillan Education to where they are today, while showcasing a long-standing commitment to storytelling, entertaining, sharing ideas and engaging curious minds.
From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Jungle Book and the poetry of Yeats and Rossetti, to Casino Royale, Bridget Jones’ Diary and The Gruffalo, Macmillan companies have published some of the best-loved fiction and children’s books of all time, an extraordinary list which continues to be expanded by Pan Macmillan and Macmillan Children’s Books today.
They have also produced a wealth of globally influential educational, non-fiction, academic and reference texts, including the science journal Nature, Nesfield’s Manual of English Grammar, The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, The Statesman’s Yearbook and Keynes’ General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. As part of Springer Nature, Palgrave Macmillan continues to publish award-winning research across the humanities, social sciences and business, while Macmillan Education supports students, teachers and institutions through a lifetime of learning by providing them with world-class content in the most relevant and engaging formats.
Today Macmillan books, products and services are enjoyed by children and adults in over 120 countries, and, according to its employees around the globe, continues to feel a very special place to work.
“From a small seed…”
Macmillan was founded by two brothers Daniel and Alexander Macmillan, the sons of Scottish crofters, in London in 1843. Their story is inspiring – with no formal education and continuously embattled by illness in the case of Daniel Macmillan, they established a company while aged just 30 and 25. Opening a bookshop in February 1843 and publishing their first two titles by November of the same year, the company grew to become one of the largest publishing houses in the world by the turn of the 20th century, with offices in Australia, Canada, India and the United States of America.
2018 also marks the bicentenary of Alexander Macmillan’s birth on 3 October 1818. Taking over the business after Daniel’s death in 1857, Macmillan’s early success can be attributed to Alexander’s wide-ranging curiosity, his generosity towards authors and colleagues, his business acumen and a life-long passion for reading, learning and books. Passed down through Daniel and Alexander’s children and colleagues, Macmillan publishers continue to embody these characteristics today.
By 1999, the various companies founded by the Macmillan Family – including the independent US publishing house – were brought back together under the shared ownership of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, another independent, family-owned publisher based in Stuttgart, Germany.
Macmillan companies have always been at the forefront of innovation.
The science and education businesses led the way with the launch of the world’s leading science journal, Nature and continue to innovate with new, flexible formats for learning. Macmillan has also made its mark globally through affordable introductory textbooks written by experts, pioneering and interactive teaching tools, educational titles catering for international markets, and one of the first ELT online learning platforms, Macmillan English Campus.
The company was responsible for launching one of the world’s first monthly literary magazines, Macmillan’s Magazine, a publication which was the result of the brothers’ belief that a publisher should be at the heart of the conversation about books and reading. Recently Pan Macmillan has also been recognised for innovations in marketing, bringing books to readers who engage with their passions and interests online, for example launching the first publisher-run book vlog, Bookbreak in 2012. The publisher has also won awards for its innovation in production and design, including new children’s book formats.
Palgrave’s Golden Treasury
175 years on from the publication of the first Macmillan book, The Philosophy of Training by A.R Craig, in October 2018 Pan Macmillan will publish a new edition of one of the most successful anthologies in English literary history, The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs & Lyrical Poems in the English Language, edited by Francis Turner Palgrave.
The original edition, published in 1861, sold close to 100,000 copies and helped popularise Wordsworth and the other Romantic poets around the world. The new edition will be part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library. Featuring a foreword by the UK Poet Laureate and Picador author, Carol Ann Duffy, it will be bound in real cloth and feature a ribbon marker and gilt edges.
Macmillan 175 at events
Alexander Macmillan was renowned for his support for authors and for bringing thought leaders together from the fields of science, philosophy, literature, politics and the arts. His salons in the London offices of Macmillan, dubbed ‘Tobacco Parliaments’, formed the hub of conversation about books, writing and reading which led to the development of friendships and new ideas, including the foundation of Nature and the publishing of Millicent Fawcett, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in Macmillan’s Magazine.
Throughout the year Macmillan 175 branded activities will continue this tradition by bringing authors, academics, teachers, educators and readers together to discuss new ideas.
In the UK, Macmillan will celebrate its heritage at a range of festivals at key points throughout the year, including Edinburgh International Book Festival. In February, Pan Macmillan is sponsoring a Knowledge Quarter symposium, The Future of Knowledge, at The British Museum, which will feature authors Mariam Khan, David Olusoga, Lisa Feldman Barrett and Peter Kinderman. The same month, Pan Macmillan will launch a special initiative for independent bookshops across the UK.
Pan Macmillan, Macmillan Education and Palgrave Macmillan will also carry Macmillan 175 branding at conferences and trade fairs as well as staff celebrations around the world.
Macmillan 175 will also have a strong branded presence on Pan Macmillan, Springer Nature, Macmillan Education and Palgrave Macmillan stands at major book trade conferences and book fairs including Bologna, Frankfurt and London.
Jeremy Dieguez, Managing Director, Macmillan Education comments:
“At Macmillan Education we are very proud of our achievements over the years, our thousands of staff worldwide and our hundreds of thousands of loyal customers, but we are most proud of the values that we stand for: honesty, quality and innovation in all we do. The Macmillan brothers set the standard, generations of people at Macmillan have worked hard to build our reputation and it’s our turn now, 175 years later, to honour that history as we continue to write the Macmillan story.
For more information visit:
www.panmacmillan.com
www.springernature.com
www.palgrave.com #Macmillan175
For more information or requests, contact Four Colman Getty:
Chris Baker / Chris.Baker@FourCommunications.com / 020 3697 4252
Alice Furse / Alice.Furse@FourCommunications.com / 020 3697 4253
NOTES TO EDITORS
Pan Macmillan
Pan Macmillan is the consumer publishing arm of Macmillan, a global publishing company. Its imprints include Macmillan, Mantle, Pan, Picador, Bluebird, Boxtree, Sidgwick & Jackson, Bello, Tor, Macmillan Children's Books, Campbell Books and Macmillan Digital Audio. Pan Macmillan was named Publisher of the Year at The Bookseller Industry Awards in 2015 and again in 2017.
Springer Nature
Springer Nature is a leading research, educational and professional publisher, providing quality content to our communities through a range of innovative platforms, products and services. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals and resources reach millions of people – helping researchers, students, teachers and professionals to discover, learn and achieve more.
Springer Nature is home to Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education and Macmillan International Higher Education.
Visit: www.springernature.com/group and follow @SpringerNature.
