1880 Roman Empire

Millworker William Collins, from Glasgow, set up the company in 1819 to print pamphlets, sermons, hymn and prayer books. The first book published was The Christian and Civic Economy of Large Towns. He also published the first Greek and English Lexicon. By1842 the company had gone on to publish illustrated dictionaries and received a licence to print the Bible. His son took over on his retirement in 1848 and by 1853  William Jr had introduced new steam presses and expanded their printing repertoire to include scientific and travel books, encyclopaedia’s and atlases in response to the demand for educational books. In the 1860’s the company expanded once again with new partners. By the 1870’s they had office in Australia, New Zealand, India and America. The original company was bought out again and re-formed during this period, with the family still being involved well into the 20^th century. By 1907 Collins started publishing modern fiction whilst still continuing with their educational publishing, becoming one the great publishing houses of the day. In1989 Collins was bought out by Rupert Murdoch and merged with Time, Harper & Row and other numerous companies to create Harper Collins.