Thomas Nelson and Sons
 |
|
| Parent company | HarperCollins |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1798 1854 (US) |
| Founder | Thomas Nelson |
| Country of origin | Scotland, UK |
| Headquarters location | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Key people | Mark Schoenwald, President & CEO Tom Knight, Senior Vice President, Sales |
| Publication types | Bibles, books, curriculum, digital content |
| Revenue |
 $237.8 million (2005) |
| Owner(s) | HarperCollins (News Corp) |
| No. of employees | Approximately 450 |
| Official website | www |
Thomas Nelson is a publishing firm that began in West Bow, Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1798 as the namesake of its founder. (The original name of the founder was actually Neilson but, owing to many errors made by his customers, he changed it to "Nelson"). It is a subsidiary of HarperCollins, the publishing unit of News Corp.
Their most successful title to date is Heaven Is for Real, which became their first title to sell more than one million ebooks.
In Canada, the Nelson imprint is used for educational publishing. In the United Kingdom, it was a mainstream publisher until the late 20th Century and is now part of another educational imprint, Nelson Thornes.
Thomas Nelson, Sr. founded the company that bears his name in Edinburgh in 1798, originally as a second-hand bookshop at 2 West Bow (just off the Grassmarket), recognizing a ready market for cheap, standard editions of non-copyright works which he attempted to satisfy by publishing reprints of classics. The company gained its ‘Sons’ when William and Thomas Jr. entered their father’s business in 1835 and 1839, respectively. Thomas Sr. died in 1861 and is buried in the extreme NW corner of Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh. William concentrated his talents on the marketing side, while Thomas Jr. devoted his to editing and production.
The firm went on to become a publisher of new books and, as the nineteenth century progressed, it produced an increasingly wide range of non-religious materials; by 1881, religion accounted for less than 6% of the firm's output. Their Hope Park Works in Edinburgh burned down in 1878 and the city council allowed temporary accommodation on the Meadows. In appreciation, the company funded the stone pillars at the east end of Melville Drive.
William Nelson died in 1887 and Thomas Jr. died in 1892. They were succeeded by George Brown, Thomas’s nephew, who directed the company until Thomas III and Ian, Thomas Jr.'s sons, were able to join him and John Buchan as partners. Buchan, employed by the firm until 1929, dedicated his novel The Thirty Nine Steps to Thomas III (Thomas Arthur Nelson) in 1914.
...
Wikipedia