Methuen Publishing: Difference between revisions

| distribution = [[Penguin Random House]] (most books, including the current Methuen Books)<br />[[Routledge]] (academic)<br />[[Egmont GroupHarperCollins]] (children's books)<br />[[A & C Black]] (dramas)

'''Methuen Publishing Ltd''' ({{Needs IPAIPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛ|θ|j|u|ə|n}}; also known as '''Methuen Books''') is an English [[publishing]] house. It was founded in 1889 by Sir [[Algernon Methuen]] (1856–1924) and began publishing in London in 1892. Initially Methuen mainly published non-fiction academic works, eventually diversifying to encourage female authors and later translated works.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=History of Methuen Publishing |url=https://archive.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk/History%20of%20Methuen%20Publishing%20-%20Opac%20version.htm|access-date=15 April 2017|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416044819/https://archive.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk/History%20of%20Methuen%20Publishing%20-%20Opac%20version.htm |archive-date=16 April 2017 |access-date=15 April 2017 |website=Penguin Random House UK Archive}}</ref> [[E. V. Lucas]] headed the firm from 1924 to 1938.

In June 1889, as a sideline to teaching, Algernon Methuen began to publish and market his own [[textbook]]s under the label Methuen & Co. The company's first success came in 1892 with the publication of [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[Barrack-Room Ballads]]''. Rapid growth came with works by [[Marie Corelli]], [[Hilaire Belloc]], [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], and [[Oscar Wilde]] (''[[De Profundis (letter)|De Profundis]]'', 1905)<ref>''De Profundis'', Oscar Wilde. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1905 (22nd Ed., 1911)</ref> as well as [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]’' ''Tarzan of the Apes''.<ref name="Stevenson, page 59">Stevenson, page 59.</ref>

In 1910 the business was converted into a [[limited liability company]] with [[E. V. Lucas]] and G.E. Webster joining the founder on the board of directors.<ref>Obituary of Sir Algernon Methuen The Times, Monday, 22 September 1924; page 18. Issue 43763.</ref> The company published the 1920 English translation of Albert Einstein’sEinstein's ''Relativity, the Special and the General Theory: A Popular Exposition''.

Following the publication of Lawrence's ''[[The Rainbow]]'' (1915), theMethuen British Director of Publicwas prosecuted Methuen for obscenity. The firm offered no defence and agreed to destroy the remaining stock of 1,011 copies.<ref name="Stevenson, page 59"/> It is thought that one reason for the firm’sfirm's failure to support Lawrence was that he had at the time written an unkind portrait of the chief editor’seditor's brother, who had recently been killed in France.<ref name="Stevenson, page 60"/>

In 1924 [[E. V. Lucas]] succeeded Algernon Methuen as chairman and led the company until his death in 1938.<ref name="Stevenson, page 60"/> Besides his executive role he also received a separate salary as the chief reader of the company. His commercial judgment added authors [[Enid Blyton]], [[P. G. Wodehouse]], [[Pearl S. Buck]] and [[Maurice Maeterlinck]] to the company’scompany's list. In 1935 they published [[Daniele Varè]]'s novel ''The Maker of Heavenly Trousers''.

Methuen was the English publisher of the book editions of ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'', a series of classic [[Belgian comics|Belgian comic]]-strip books, written and illustrated by [[Hergé]]. Methuen altered their [[Tintin books, films, and media|editions of Tintin]] by insisting that books featuring British characters undergo major changes. ''[[The Black Island]]'', first published in French in 1937, was set in Great Britain, but, prior to publishing it themselves in 1966, Methuen decided that it did not reflect the U.K. accurately enough and sent a list of 131 "errors" to be corrected.<ref name="TintinTheCompleteCompanion">''Tintin: The Complete Companion'' by [[Michael Farr]], John Murray publishers, 2001</ref> It was thus redrawn and reset in the 1960s. Critics have attacked Methuen over the changes, claiming that ''The Black Island'' lost a lot of its charm as a result.<ref name="TintinTheCompleteCompanion"/> ''[[Land of Black Gold]]'' had had a troubled publishing history, but the completed adventure eventually appeared in 1948–1950. It was set in the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]] and featured the conflict between Jews, Arabs and British troops. When Methuen was translating the ''Adventures of Tintin'' into English, [[Israel]] had long since been in existence, and Methuen asked for it to be edited. Hergé took the opportunity to redraw the few problematic pages, as well as the pages before that: the freighter that appeared before that was based on Hergé's imagination, due to lack of resources at the time. The earlier version, published in 1950, was reprinted by [[Casterman]] as a facsimile edition, but internationally was completely replaced by the newer version.

</ref> Reed sold off its trade publishing to [[Random House]] in February 1997. Methuen Drama bought itself out in 1998 while retaining the distribution and warehousing services with Random House.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Methuen - How to Purchase |url=http://www.methuen.co.uk/links.aspx |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=Methuen Books}}</ref> That same year, Reed sold Methuen's children's catalogue to the [[Egmont Group]]. Egmont Group sold its UK book division to [[HarperCollins]] in 2020.

[[Penguin Random House]] now owns the rights to many books that used to be published under the Methuen name viathrough [[Random House]], and the [[Adrian Mole]] franchise through [[Penguin Books]], the company also distributed the titles of now-independent Methuen Books.<ref name=":1" /> Many of the publisher's academic titles are now published by [[Routledge]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.methuen.co.uk/about/contact |title=Contact Methuen |access-date=2013-08-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824225654/http://www.methuen.co.uk/about/contact |archive-date=2013-08-24 }}</ref>

Methuen Books continues to publish new works of fiction and non-fiction, as well as reprinting older, classic works. Contemporary Methuen authors include [[Mark Dunn]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.methuen.co.uk/bookdetails.aspx?value=419|title=Methuen Books|website=www.methuen.co.uk|access-date=2018-08-07}}</ref> [[Robert McKee]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.methuen.co.uk/bookdetails.aspx?value=418|title=Methuen Books|website=www.methuen.co.uk|access-date=2018-08-07}}</ref> [[Michael Palin]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.methuen.co.uk/bookdetails.aspx?value=346|title=Methuen Books|website=www.methuen.co.uk|access-date=2018-08-07}}</ref> 1986 Nobel Prize Winner [[Wole Soyinka]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.methuen.co.uk/bookdetails.aspx?value=8|title=Methuen Books|website=www.methuen.co.uk|access-date=2018-08-07}}</ref> and 2012 Nobel Prize Winner [[Mo Yan]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.methuen.co.uk/bookdetails.aspx?value=93|title=Methuen Books|website=www.methuen.co.uk|access-date=2018-08-07}}</ref> Classic Methuen authors include the US novelist [[Walker Percy]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.methuen.co.uk/bookdetails.aspx?value=183|title=Methuen Books|website=www.methuen.co.uk|access-date=2018-08-07}}</ref> the US academic and commentator [[Neil Postman]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.methuen.co.uk/bookdetails.aspx?value=10|title=Methuen Books|website=www.methuen.co.uk|access-date=2018-08-07}}</ref> and the UK cartoonist [[Norman Thelwell]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.methuen.co.uk/bookdetails.aspx?value=398|title=Methuen Books|website=www.methuen.co.uk|access-date=2018-08-07}}</ref>