The origins of the company can be traced back to
William Pickering (1796–1854), who set up as an
antiquarian bookseller and publisher in 1820. After his death, the business was carried on by his son, Basil Montagu Pickering. On his death, in 1878, it was purchased by
Andrew Chatto (1840–1913), one of the founding partners of
Chatto and Windus. By the early twentieth century Pickering & Chatto was solely concerned with antiquarian book selling. Lord
William Rees-Mogg bought Pickering & Chatto in 1981. In 1983 he re-established Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited as an independent publishing house, serving as chairman and proprietor. In 1993 the antiquarian bookselling business became an entirely separate enterprise and there is now no connection between the two companies. until March 2015, when it was acquired by the
Taylor & Francis Group and became an
imprint of
Routledge. == Footnotes ==