Constable & Co. was founded in 1795 in
Edinburgh, Scotland by
Archibald Constable, and became the publisher of works by
Sir Walter Scott. In 1827, following the death of his father,
Thomas Constable took over the company. In 1860, Thomas Constable sold the publishing part of his business to Edmonston & Douglas, while continuing the printing activities of his firm. In 1861, the company employed 50 compositors for printing work. In 1865, Thomas' son Archibald joined the firm as a partner and the firm began publishing as T. & A. Constable Ltd. In 1897, Constable released the well-known horror novel,
Bram Stoker's
The Un-Dead, albeit with a last-minute title change to
Dracula. In 1813, the company was the first publishing company to give an author advance against royalties. In 1821, it introduced the standard
three-volume novel, and in 1826, with the launch of the book series ''
Constable's Miscellany'', it became the first publisher to produce mass-market literary editions. Over the decades; Constable has published books by notable British authors such as
Sir Walter Scott,
Henry James,
Bram Stoker,
George Bernard Shaw,
Elizabeth Bowen and
B. S. Johnson. By 1921, Constable was the first publishing house to advertising books on the
London Underground.
Ralph Arnold joined the firm in 1936, rising to chairman between 1958 and 1961. In his memoir
Orange Street and Brickhole Lane (1963) he described the firm as having "a strangely endearing persona". In 1993, Constable & Co. pioneered the series-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy self-help publishing, and in 2000, they became the first ad-supported, online book publisher. Lastly, in 2013, Constable & Robinson were a key partner in Digital Innovation Contest 2013.
Robinson Publishing Ltd was founded in 1983 by Nick Robinson. The two companies merged in December 1999. Constable & Robinson continue to publish non-fiction books under the Constable imprint and is therefore probably the oldest independent publishing house in the English-speaking world still trading under the name of its founder. In June 2007, Elliot Right Way Books, a successful small publisher of "how-to" titles and the publisher of compendia of speeches by
Enoch Powell, came under the umbrella of Constable & Robinson Ltd. A new fiction imprint,
Corsair, was launched in October 2009 dedicated to publishing ground-breaking
debut fiction alongside established authors. Upon its success, the company launched the
Canvas imprint in December 2011 to focus on commercial fiction. A bijou imprint of
Corsair,
Much-in-Little, was launched in April 2012 focusing on quirky and imaginative new children's and YA fiction. Constable & Robinson also publishes a non-fiction list including current affairs, history and biography, humour and psychology, as well as crime fiction, and literary fiction in both hardback and paperback. Best known are the longstanding Mammoth paperback list of anthologies and collections, the
Overcoming CBT self-help titles, and the history series of Brief Guides and Brief Histories. Constable & Robinson is the UK publisher of the
Agatha Raisin and
Hamish Macbeth crime fiction titles by
M. C. Beaton. In 2013, Constable & Robinson created controversy when it responded to a manuscript submission by
J. K. Rowling by suggesting that she attend a writing course. The novel, ''
The Cuckoo's Calling'', was published by a competitor, reprinted three times, and was adapted for television. In 2014, Constable & Robinson was purchased by the
Little, Brown Book Group. ==Awards==