Heinemann is a UK publishing house founded by
William HeinemannWilliam Heinemann was the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London.He was born in 1863, in Surbiton, Surrey. In his early life he wanted to be a musician, either as a performer or a composer, but, realising that he lacked the ability to be successful in that field, he took a job with...
in
Covent GardenCovent Garden is a district in London, England, located in the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwestern corner of the London Borough of Camden...
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in 1890. On William Heinemann's death in 1920 a majority stake was purchased by U.S. publisher Doubleday.
Heinemann was purchased by the Octopus Publishing Group in 1985; Octopus was purchased by Reed International (now Reed Elsevier) in 1987.
Random HouseRandom House, Inc. is the world's largest English-language general trade book publisher. It has been owned since 1998 by the large German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing...
bought Heinemann's trade publishing (now named William Heinemann) in 1997.
Heinemann is a UK publishing house founded by
William HeinemannWilliam Heinemann was the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London.He was born in 1863, in Surbiton, Surrey. In his early life he wanted to be a musician, either as a performer or a composer, but, realising that he lacked the ability to be successful in that field, he took a job with...
in
Covent GardenCovent Garden is a district in London, England, located in the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwestern corner of the London Borough of Camden...
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in 1890. On William Heinemann's death in 1920 a majority stake was purchased by U.S. publisher Doubleday.
Heinemann was purchased by the Octopus Publishing Group in 1985; Octopus was purchased by Reed International (now Reed Elsevier) in 1987.
Random HouseRandom House, Inc. is the world's largest English-language general trade book publisher. It has been owned since 1998 by the large German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing...
bought Heinemann's trade publishing (now named William Heinemann) in 1997. Heinemann's educational unit became part of
Harcourt EducationHarcourt Education was a publisher serving the US assessment and trade markets for pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12, and international markets for primary and secondary school....
when Reed Elsevier purchased the company in 2001.
PearsonPearson plc is a London-based education and media conglomerate. It is the largest book publisher in the UK, India, Australia and New Zealand, and the second largest in the US and Canada. Marjorie Scardino has been CEO since 1997. The headquarters for Pearson is at 80 Strand, the former Shell Mex...
purchased the UK, South African, Australian and New Zealand arms of Harcourt Education in May 2007, while
Houghton MifflinHoughton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company is a leading educational publisher in the United States. The company's headquarters is located in Boston's Back Bay...
purchased the American operations a few months later.
Today
Heinemann is now a leading educational publisher, formerly part of
Harcourt EducationHarcourt Education was a publisher serving the US assessment and trade markets for pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12, and international markets for primary and secondary school....
, and has also been a pioneer in recruiting developing world authors and publishing especially in Africa. Heinemann Kenya is a (now locally owned) spin off from this pioneering stance. Heinemann was awarded the
1992 Worldaware Award for Social progress in recognition of this role.
It is best known among educators and learners in the United Kingdom and in Southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It publishes for the Primary and Secondary school curriculum in the UK, as well as for further education and vocational colleges. It has a similar market profile in Australia. Heinemann Southern Africa publishes for southern African schools, colleges, technikons and universities.
History
Famous authors of the 20th century on their imprint have included:
- John Galsworthy
John Galsworthy OM was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include The Forsyte Saga and its sequels, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter...
- Anthony Burgess
John Burgess Wilson was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic....
- D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English author, poet, playwright, essayist and literary critic. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
- Noel Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of Richmond upon Thames, London, Coward...
- Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
- Brian J. Ford
Brian J. Ford is an independent research biologist, author, and lecturer, who publishes on scientific issues for the general public...
- Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer, dramatist, and musician. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a...
- Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong MRSL is a British author of numerous works on comparative religion, who first rose to prominence with her highly successful A History of God...
- Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, children's author, and short story author.Known primarily for her poetry, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas...
- W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer...
- John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and the novella Of Mice and Men . He wrote a total of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short stories...
- Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe , born Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe on 16 November 1930, is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart , which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.Raised by Christian parents in the Igbo village of Ogidi...
- Arthur Upfield
Arthur William Upfield was an Australian writer, best known for his works of detective fiction featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte of the Queensland Police Force, a half-caste Aborigine....
- Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , best known as Hugh Laurie, is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician.He first reached fame as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner, Stephen Fry, and then as a cast member of Blackadder. Since 2004, he has...
- Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist.-Early life:Born in London, England at 57 Palace Gardens Terrace, Henry Maximilian Beerbohm was the last of several children of a Lithuanian-born grain merchant, Julius Ewald Edward Beerbohm . His mother was Eliza...
The publishing house also introduced many translations of the classics into Britain, especially the pioneering translations from Russian by
Constance GarnettConstance Clara Garnett was an English translator of nineteenth-century Russian Literature...
.