George Bell & Sons
| Status | Defunct |
|---|---|
| Founded | George Bell |
| Founder | 1839 |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters location | London |
| Publication types | Books |
George Bell & Sons was a book publishing house located in London, United Kingdom, from 1839 to 1986.
George Bell & Sons was founded by George Bell as an educational bookseller, with the intention of selling the output of London university presses; but became best known as an independent publisher of classics and children's books.
One of Bell's first investments in publishing was a series of Railway Companions; that is, booklets of timetables and tourist guides. Within a year Bell's publishing business had outstripped his retail business, and he elected to move from his original offices into Fleet Street. There G. Bell & Sons branched into the publication of books on art, architecture, and archaeology, in addition to the classics for which the company was already known. Bell's reputation was only improved by his association with Henry Cole.
In the mid-1850s, Bell expanded again, printing the children's books of Margaret Gatty (Parables from Nature) and Juliana Horatia Ewing (the Nursery Magazine). Around the same time, in 1854, he acquired J. & J.J. Deighton, a bookseller's outfit in Cambridge, which thereupon changed its name to Deighton, Bell & Co. and continued to operate out of Cambridge until at least 1998, although it had been sold to Dawson Books by then. Then, in 1856, Bell brought on board as a partner Frederick Daldy, and renamed the company Bell & Daldy.
With Daldy, Bell began to print more poetry collections, including the Aldine Edition of British Poets and the works of Andrew Lang and Robert Bridges. To the firm's educational output was added Webster's Dictionary, after Bell acquired the British rights to Webster's work. Then, Bell & Daldy took over the libraries of Henry George Bohn, a Covent Garden publisher, and moved their operation to Bohn's former location. With such an extensive library available for publication, Bell's original retail location in Fleet Street was no longer necessary; the firm moved out of Fleet Street for good in 1867.
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