The business was founded at 86
Newgate Street, London, in 1855. Later on, London branch warehouses were established at 1 Foubert Place, 22 Golden Square, 81 The Quadrant, Regent Street, and in Brighton at 1 Palace Place. By a change of partnership on 26 February 1887, the warehouse in the Quadrant was transferred to
Wesley S. B. Woolhouse, while the general business with this exception remaining George Augener's. In the late 19th century, Augener & Co.'s catalogue contained upwards of 6,000 works, of which nearly 1,000 were cheap volumes; among these was a comprehensive collection of
pianoforte classics edited by
Ernst Pauer, as well as an important series of educational works edited by him, by
John Farmer, and other well-known musicians. To this collection they added the works of some of the most important composers of the
New German School, including
Xaver Scharwenka,
Jean L. Nicodé, and
Moszkowski. They had a large and varied stock of music and were the sole agency for the UK of the famous
Edition Peters published at
Leipzig. They also published
The Monthly Musical Record, a journal which had among its contributors prominent names in English musical literature. At the end of the century, its circulation was about 6,000. Between 1898 and 1904, Augener purchased
Robert Cocks & Co. from Robert Cocks's descendants, Robert Macfarlane Cocks and Strould Lincoln Cocks. ==Company acquisitions==