Kegan Paul: A Victorian Imprint

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

In this book, Kegan Paul is the author’s way of abbreviating several
publishing firms, beginning with H.S. King and Co. (1871–77) and
ending with Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. (1889–1911). Howsam’s
study, which follows the Kegan Paul story up to 1911, opens with
chapters on Henry S. King (the man who started the businesses off) and
Charles Kegan Paul. Paul began his career as an Anglican clergyman.
After becoming disillusioned with both his occupation and his religion,
he joined H.S. King and Co. in 1874 as manager. His involvement with
that firm, and the ones that followed, ended in 1895 when a serious
accident sidelined him.

Following the two primarily biographical chapters are chapters on Kegan
Paul Trench and Co. and Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Howsam is
particularly adept in analyzing the sorts of books brought out between
1877 and 1888, since she had access to the complete list. Her analysis
is by subject, by type of contract, and by gender of the authors. The
modern reader will be fascinated by the types of books that found their
reading public, as well as by 19th-century publishing practices. What is
particularly interesting is the number of titles published “on
commission,” which is a fancy way of saying “paid for by the
author.”

In her fifth and last chapter, Howsam, a professor of history at the
University of Windsor, sums up Kegan Paul as a publisher of “serious
books.” It is therefore entirely appropriate that Kegan Paul
International has co-published this outstanding book. Meticulously
researched, well written, and supplemented with useful tables and
chronologies, it should appeal to historians, bibliographers, and all
librarians.