Records of The Bodley Head Ltd

BH

c1910-1990

The Bodley Head was founded in 1887 as a partnership between Charles Elkin Mathews and John Lane. John Lane became the sole owner in 1894. In 1956 the firm was bought by Max Reinhardt, who in turn sold it to Random House in 1987. Random House was purchased by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and now functions as a "corporate division" of Bertelsmann. (Source: Firms Out of Business database)

The bulk of the collection consists of material from the later twentieth century. There are editorial files for adult books 1961-1980s; editorial files for children's books from the 1970s and 1980s; publicity files for adult books including reviews c.1950-1980s; publicity files c.1950-1984 for children's books; reviews of children's books 1939-1984; production files for adult books c. 1950-1980s; a few production files for children's books from the 1970s; material relating to rights from the 1970s and 1980s; readers' reports c. 1950-1980s; Max Reinhardt correspondence 1964-1986; David Machin correspondence, and export department files 1968-1973. In addition, there are papers of John Lane dating mostly from the 1920s and 1930s, consisting of correspondence, receipts, invoices and other business papers. There is also material from subsidiary firms. Hollis & Carter items include editorial files 1948-1981 and rights correspondence 1946-1960. Putnam material includes editorial files 1932-1979, book reviews 1950s-1980s. Bowes & Bowes material includes editorial files 1948-1976 and reviews 1950s-1980s. Further files have been deposited by Random House since their acquisition of the firm but are as yet unlisted. There are no records in the collection for before c1918. The majority of early company records are held in the John Lane Company Collection at the Harry Ransom Centre, Texas In addition, there are few or no records for the years 1936 to 1960 when the company was run by a consortium of publishers.

c. 800 boxes

English

archief

Bodley Head Limited(The), Hollis and Carter Ltd, T. Werner Laurie (Firm), G.P. Putnam (Firm), Bowes & Bowes Publishers, John Lane, David Machin, Max Reinhardt, 1915-2002

Prior permission from Random House is required. Please contact Special Collections for further information.

See also the John Lane Company Records 1856-1933, at the Harry Ransom Centre at The University of Texas at Austin.