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{{Short description|UK book publishing company}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox publisher
| image =
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| successor =
| country = United Kingdom
| headquarters = [[YorkNorth Yorkshire]]
| distribution = [[Penguin Random House]] (most books, including the current Methuen Books)<br />[[Routledge]] (academic)<br />[[HarperCollins]] (children's books)<br />[[A & C Black]] (dramas)
| keypeople =
| publications = books
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| nasdaq =
| url = {{URL|http://www.methuen.co.uk}}
|name=Methuen Books}}
}}
 
'''Methuen Publishing Ltd''' ({{IPAc-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 |accessdateurl-status=15live April 2017|deadurl=no|archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416044819/https://archive.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk/History%20of%20Methuen%20Publishing%20-%20Opac%20version.htm |archivedatearchive-date=16 April 2017 |dfaccess-date=15 April 2017 |website=Penguin Random House UK Archive}}</ref> [[E. V. Lucas]] headed the firm from 1924 to 19281938.
 
==Establishment==
In June 1889, as a sideline to teaching, Algernon Methuen began to publish and market his own [[textbookstextbook]]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''.
 
With knowledge he had gained of [[children's literature]] at the publisher Grant Richards, [[E. V. Lucas]] built on the company's early success. Among the authors Lucas signed to the company were [[A. A. Milne]], [[Kenneth Grahame]], while he also supported illustrators [[W. Heath Robinson]], H. M. Bateman and Ernest[[E. H. Shepard]].<ref name="Stevenson, page 60">Stevenson, page 60.</ref> By the 1920s it had also a literary list that included [[Anthony Hope]], [[G. K. Chesterton]], [[Henry James]], [[D. H. Lawrence]], [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Ruth Manning-Sanders]] and [[The Arden Shakespeare]] series.
 
==''The Rainbow''==
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"/>
 
==Edward Verrall Lucas==
In 1924 [[E. V. Lucas]] succeeded Algernon Methuen as chairman and led the company until his death in 19281938.<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''.
 
In 1930 the company published the popular humorous book ''[[1066 and All That]]''.
 
==Tintin==
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.
''[[Land of Black Gold]]'' had had a troubled publishing history, but the completed adventure eventually appeared in 1948–50. 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.
 
==Recent Historyhistory==
In 1958 Methuen was part of the conglomerate [[Associated Book Publishers]] (ABP), and for much of the 1970s was known as Eyre Methuen following its absorption of the [[Eyre & Spottiswoode, Ltd.|Eyre & Spottiswoode]] firm. When ABP was acquired by the [[Thomson Organization]] in 1987, it sold off the trade publishing units, including Methuen, to [[Reed Elsevier|Reed International]]'s Octopus.<ref>TAIT, [[ReedN. Elsevier]](1987, soldDecember off3). itsUK tradeCompany publishingNews: toOctopus [[RandomBuys House]]Methuen inFrom 1997,Int andThomson. MethuenFinancial boughtTimes itself(London, out inEngland), 199830.
</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.
 
In 2003, Methuen PublishingDrama purchased the company Politico's Publishing from its owner [[Iain Dale]].<ref>{{cite news | last =Pierce | first =Andrew | title =Methuen writes new chapter for lovers of Politico's intrigue - People | work =[[The Times]] | page =6 | publisher =Times Newspapers Limited | date =August 4, 2004 }}</ref> In 2006, itMethuen sold its notable drama lists to [[A & C Black]] for £2.35 million.
 
The[[Penguin Random House]] now owns the rights to Methuen's childrenmany books currentlythat belongused to be published under the Methuen name through [[EgmontRandom GroupHouse]] 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=ArchivedContact copyMethuen |accessdateaccess-date=2013-08-15 |deadurlurl-status=yesdead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824225654/http://www.methuen.co.uk/about/contact |archivedatearchive-date=2013-08-24 |df= }}</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>.▼
== The Present Day ==
▲Methuen 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>.
 
==References==
{{reflistReflist}}
 
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Duffy, MMaureen |author-link=Maureen Duffy |title=A Thousand Capricious Chances: A History of the Methuen List 1889–1989|url=https://archive.org/details/thousandcapricio0000duff|url-access=registration| location=London |publisher= Methuen | year=1989 |type = hardback | isbn=978-0413573506}}
* {{cite book |author=Stevenson, Iain |title=Book Makers: British Publishing in the Twentieth Century | location=London |publisher= The British Library | year=2010 |type = hardback | isbn=978-0-7123-0961-5 |pages = 314 pages.}}
 
==External links==
{{commons category|Methuen publishers}}
{{wikisource portal|Methuen}}
* [http://www.methuen.co.uk/ Methuen website]
 
 
{{Tintin and Hergé}}
{{Winnie-the-Pooh}}
{{Authority control}}
 
[[Category:Publishing companies established in 1889]]
[[Category:Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Companies based in LondonYork]]
[[Category:1889 establishments in England]]
[[Category:British companies established in 1889]]
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