Marcus Ward & Co.

In the early 1830s Marcus Ward (son of John Ward) took over the running of the Belfast paper mill. Then in 1833 Marcus formed a new company, Marcus Ward & Sons, based in Belfast, having a new direction, in stationery and general publishing. Marcus Ward and Sons soon became very successful in the area of colour lithography, winning a medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851. (In later life John was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA), committee member of the Egypt Exploration Society and author of several titles on Middle Eastern archaeology, sometimes illustrated by his own watercolours.) In the 1860s Marcus Ward & Co began mass-producing calendars and greeting cards. Initially they printed cards for other publishers such as Charles Goodall & Son and Charles Bennett. This venture turned out to be very successful, the company engaging Thomas Crane as artistic director and talented artists such as Kate Greenaway and Walter Crane as illustrators. In the early years of card production they marked the reverse with their trademark. In later years the company name was printed on the front side of their greeting cards. Marcus Ward & Co published a number of book series including The New Plutarch (series editors: Walter Besant and William Jackson Brodribb) and The Illustrated Waverley Novels.

• Name — Marcus Ward & Company • Status — Defunct (1899) • Founded — 1833 • Founder — Marcus Ward • Successor — McCaw, Stevenson, & Orr, Ltd. • Country — United Kingdom • Headquarters — Belfast, London • Distribution — Worldwide • Publications — Books, calendars, greeting cards • Topics — Children's literature

• Illustration — Bookmark and greeting card late 1800s • Illustration — Cover to Abroad (1882), by Thomas Crane & Ellen Houghton • Illustration — Kate Greenaway greeting card, ca. 1877 • Illustration — Helga von Cramm, Christmas card ca. 1880