, . Left to right:
Fletcher,
James, John, and Joseph
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishing business, J. & J. Harper, in New York City in 1817. Their two brothers, Joseph Wesley and
Fletcher, joined them in the mid-1820s.
Harper & Brothers (1833–1962) The company changed its name to "Harper & Brothers" in 1833. The headquarters of the publishing house was located at 331 Pearl Street, facing
Franklin Square in
Lower Manhattan near the present-day Manhattan approach to the
Brooklyn Bridge. Harper & Brothers began publishing ''
Harper's New Monthly Magazine in New York City, in 1850. The brothers also published Harper's Weekly (starting in New York City in June 1857), Harper's Bazar (starting in New York City on November 2, 1867), and Harper's Young People'' (starting in New York City in 1879). George B. M. Harvey became president of Harper's on November 16, 1899. ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine
ultimately became Harper's Magazine'', now published by the Harper's Magazine Foundation. ''Harper's Weekly
was absorbed by The Independent
(New York; later Boston) in 1916, which merged with The Outlook
in 1928. Harper's Bazar
was sold to William Randolph Hearst in 1913, became Harper's Bazaar
, and is now simply Bazaar'', published by the
Hearst Corporation. In 1924,
Cass Canfield joined Harper & Brothers and held various executive positions until he died in 1986. In 1925, Eugene F. Saxton joined the company as an editor, and he was responsible for publishing many well-known authors, including
Edna St. Vincent Millay and
Thornton Wilder. In 1935,
Edward Aswell moved to Harper & Brothers as an assistant editor of general books and eventually became editor-in-chief. Aswell persuaded
Thomas Wolfe to leave
Scribner's, and, after Wolfe's death, edited the posthumous novels,
The Web and the Rock, ''You Can't Go Home Again
, and The Hills Beyond''.
Harper & Row (1962–1990) In 1962, Harper & Brothers merged with Row, Peterson & Company to become Harper & Row. Harper's religion publishing moved to
San Francisco and became Harper San Francisco, which is now
HarperOne, in 1977. Harper & Row acquired
Thomas Y. Crowell Co. and
J. B. Lippincott & Co. in the 1970s; Crowell and the trade operations of Lippincott were merged into Harper & Row in 1980. In 1988, Harper & Row purchased the religious publisher
Zondervan, including subsidiary
Marshall Pickering.
HarperCollins (1990–present) Rupert Murdoch's
News Corporation, now
News Corp, acquired Harper & Row in 1987, and
William Collins, Sons in 1990. The names of these two national publishing houses, Harper & Row in the United States and Collins in the United Kingdom, were combined along with the Harper's torch icon and Collins' fountain icon to create
HarperCollins. The company has since expanded its international reach with further acquisitions of formerly independent publishers. The Harper imprint began being used in place of HarperCollins in 2007. ==Paperbacks==