Beginnings The Longman company was founded by
Thomas Longman (1699 – 18 June 1755), the son of Ezekiel Longman (died 1708), a gentleman of
Bristol. Thomas was apprenticed in 1716 to John Osborn, a London bookseller, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship married Osborn's daughter. In August 1724, he purchased the stock and household goods of
William Taylor, the first publisher of
Robinson Crusoe, for 9s 6d. Taylor's two shops in
Paternoster Row, London, were known respectively as the
Black Swan and the
Ship, premises at that time having signs rather than numbers, and became the publishing house premises. Longman entered into partnership with his father-in-law, Osborn, who held one-sixth of the shares in
Ephraim Chambers's
Cyclopaedia (1728). Longman himself was one of the six booksellers, who undertook the responsibility of
Samuel Johnson's
Dictionary (1746–1755).
Second and third generations In 1754, Longman took into partnership his nephew, Thomas Longman (1730–1797), and the title of the firm became T. and T. Longman. Upon the death of his uncle in 1755, Longman became sole proprietor. He greatly extended the colonial trade of the firm. In 1794, he took Owen Rees as a partner; in the same year, Thomas Brown (c. 1777–1869) entered the house as an apprentice. Longman had three sons. Of these,
Thomas Norton Longman (1771–1842) succeeded to the business. In 1804, two more partners, including Edward Orme & Thomas Hurst, were admitted, and the former apprentice Brown became a partner in 1811; in 1824, the title of the firm was changed to 'Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green'. A document of 1823 "Grant of Land in the Concan" printed by the firm under this name shows the name change was from 1823 or earlier. In 1799, Longman purchased the copyright of
Lindley Murray's
English Grammar, which had an annual sale of about copies. In the following year,
Richmal Mangnall's
Historical and Miscellaneous Questions for the Use of Young People was purchased, and went through 84 editions by 1857. In about 1800, he also purchased the copyright of
Southey's
Joan of Arc and
Wordsworth's
Lyrical Ballads, from Joseph Cottle of Bristol. He published the works of Wordsworth,
Coleridge, Southey and
Scott, and acted as London agent for the
Edinburgh Review, which was started in 1802. In 1802 appeared the first part of ''
Rees's Cyclopædia'', edited by
Abraham Rees. This was completed in 39 volumes, plus six volumes of plates, in 1819. In 1814, arrangements were made with
Thomas Moore for the publication of
Laila Rookh, for which he was paid ; and when
Archibald Constable failed in 1826, Longmans became the proprietors of the
Edinburgh Review. They issued in 1829
Lardner's
Cabinet Encyclopaedia, and in 1832
McCulloch's
Commercial Dictionary.
Fourth and fifth generations Thomas Norton Longman died on 29 August 1842, leaving his two sons,
Thomas (1804–1879) and William (1813–1877), in control of the business in Paternoster Row. Their first success was the publication of
Macaulay's
Lays of Ancient Rome, which was followed in 1841 by the issue of the first two volumes of his
History of England, which after a few years had a sale of copies. The two brothers were well known for their literary talent. Thomas Longman edited a beautifully illustrated edition of the
New Testament, and William Longman was the author of several important books, among them a
History of the Three Cathedrals dedicated to St Paul (1869) and a work on the
History of the Life and Times of Edward III (1873). In 1863, the firm took over the business of
John William Parker, and with it ''
Fraser's Magazine'', and the publication of the works of
John Stuart Mill and
James Anthony Froude; while in 1890 they incorporated with their own all the publications of the old firm of
Rivington, established in 1711. The family control of the firm (later "Longmans, Green & Co.") was continued by Thomas Norton Longman, son of Thomas Longman. In 1884, the firm employed John William Allen as an educationalist. Allen grew the firm's educational list, including textbooks he wrote himself. He later inherited the shares of W. E. Green and became a shareholder in 1918. ==1900 onwards==