J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd was a book printer and publisher based in
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It became a limited company in 1911, having been an unincorporated company named Arrowsmith. It was closed in 2006.
The company published the first edition of the novel ''
Three Men in a Boat'' by
Jerome K. Jerome in 1889. Also published by J. W. Arrowsmith were:
* ''
Called Back'' by
Hugh Conway (1883)
* ''
Diary of a Pilgrimage'' by Jerome K. Jerome (1891)
* ''
The Great Shadow'' by
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
(1892)
* ''
The Diary of a Nobody'' by
George and
Weedon Grossmith (1892)
* ''
Rupert of Hentzau'' by
Anthony Hope (1898)
* ''
Three Men on the Bummel'' by Jerome K. Jerome (1900)
History
The business began in 1854 when Isaac Arrowsmith moved to Bristol from
Worcester. Isaac Arrowsmith was a founder member of the Worcester Typographical Society. Arrowsmith and Hugh Evans, a stationer on Clare Street, published a railway timetable for a penny, an original copy of which is held at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
.
When Isaac died in 1871 his son,
James Williams Arrowsmith, ventured into general publishing.
Arrowsmith's first success came in 1883 with
Hugh Conway's ‘
Called Back’ was reviewed positively by
Henry Labouchère in
’Truth’.
James Arrowsmith was a friend of the famous Bristolian cricketer,
WG Grace, and published Grace's book entitled 'Cricket'. Their surviving letters show the process was not a smooth one:
:''Dear Arrowsmith,''
:''It is very annoying to think you won’t do the little book as I wish. If you do it at all, why not properly? The specimen you have sent is too common a style.''
:''Yours in haste,''
:''WG Grace''
In 1930 J W Arrowsmith printed the first of the
Bristol Record Society's volumes, with transcriptions of historic records of Bristol, primarily material now held at
Bristol Archives.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the Arrowsmith's factory hosted seven local competitors whose sites had been destroyed.
In 1952 a 27,000 square foot factory on Winterstoke Road, Bristol, was begun, finally alleviating the company's need to expand from the small, inadequate factory on Quay Street.
''Arrowsmith'' remains a publishing
imprint.
Book series
* Arrowsmith's Bristol Library
[ Michael Sadleir, ]
XIX Century Fiction : A Bibliographical Record Based on His Own Collection
', Vol. 2, New York : Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1969, p. 12. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
* Arrowsmith’s Fiction Favorites (ca. 1924)
* Arrowsmith’s Fiction Series (1943-1948)
* Arrowsmith's Shilling Reprint Series
* Arrowsmith's Six Shilling Series
* Arrowsmith’s Three & Sixpenny Series (1892-1924)
* Arrowsmith’s 2/- Net Novels (1928-1941)
* Arrowsmith's Two Shilling Series
[Troy J. Bassett]
Title Tag: Publisher Series: Arrowsmith's Two Shilling Series
''At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837—1901'', victorianresearch.org. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
* Broad Arrow Thrillers (1937)
Archives
Most of the records of J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd are held at
Bristol Archives (Ref. 40145)
online catalogue along with copies of many Arrowsmith publications.
References
Further reading
*
"The Property of J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd." Sotheby & Co. sales catalogue, March 1968
External links
Arrowsmith website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arrowsmith, J. W.
Companies based in Bristol
Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom
Book publishing company imprints