W. H. Allen & Co.
Allen and Company (est. 1835) was a bookselling and publishing business in London, England, at first known for issuing works related to the British colonies. It operated from headquarters in Leadenhall Street, later moving to Waterloo Place.
Also recorded as W.H. Allen · William H. Allen and Company
W. H. Allen & Co.
The British Library · Image taken from page 157 of 'To Gibraltar and back in an eighteen-tonner. By One of the Crew. With chart, illustrations, etc' · No known copyright restrictions
- Founded
- 1835
- Headquarters
- London
- Dissolved
- 1997
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Documentary summary
Allen and Company (est. 1835) was a bookselling and publishing business in London, England, at first known for issuing works related to the British colonies. It operated from headquarters in Leadenhall Street, later moving to Waterloo Place.
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wikidata · Q28803186 · wikipedia · W. H. Allen & Co.
In this article
Overview
Overview
Early owners and staff included James P. Allen, William Ferneley Allen (d. 1877), and William Houghton Allen. After a series of acquisitions, in 1991 W. Allen was renamed Virgin Publishing Ltd.
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The British Library · Image taken from page 143 of 'Corea, the hermit nation. I. Ancient and mediæval history. II. Political and social Corea. III. Modern and recent history'
View this map on the BL Georeferencer service. Image taken from:
The British Library · Image taken from page 167 of 'Corea, the hermit nation. I. Ancient and mediæval history. II. Political and social Corea. III. Modern and recent history'
Key facts
Key facts
• Owner — Ebury Publishing • Founder — William Houghton Allen • Successor — Virgin Books • Country — United Kingdom • Headquarters — London • Publications — Books • Topics — Nonfiction • Genre — Science fiction • Imprints — Target Books • Defunct — 1991
History
History
By 1975 W. H. Allen was part of the British conglomerate Howard & Wyndham Ltd. During 1977 and 1978 the Wyndham identity was phased out, with the whole publishing line being identified with the W. H. Allen brand. The Target Books paperback line became well known for its highly successful range of novelisations and other assorted books based on the popular science fiction television series Doctor Who. In 1977, W. H. Allen acquired Warner Communications' publishing division, including Williams Publishing and Thorpe & Porter; but by 1978–1979 W. H. Allen decided to close down both divisions. W. H. Allen was acquired by Virgin Books in a process that spanned late 1986 to late 1987. Virgin Books was incorporated into W. H. Allen in 1989, but in 1991 W. H. Allen was renamed Virgin Publishing Ltd. Random House, through its United Kingdom division, acquired a 90% stake in Virgin Books in March 2007. In November 2009, Virgin became an independent imprint within Ebury Publishing, a division of the Random House Group.
Predecessors
Predecessors
• Black, Kingsbury, and Parbury • Black, Kingsbury, Parbury and Allen, 1818–1822 • Kingsbury, Parbury, and Allen, 1822–1827 (William Houghton Allen, Thomas Kingsbury, Charles Parbury) • Parbury, Allen, and Co., 1827–1834 (William Houghton Allen, Charles Parbury) • Parbury and Allen
Institutional history
Dated record
Institutional history
Explore 1835–1997
The full dated record · 3 entries
1835
W. H. Allen & Co. established.
1835
W. H. Allen & Co. is recorded from 1835.
1997
W. H. Allen & Co. ceased.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United Kingdom
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “W. H. Allen & Co.”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q28803186: W. H. Allen & Co.
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Theo D'haen. Routledge Companion to World Literature. Routledge. 2012. 978-1-136-65575-3.
- 2.Obituary. The Bookseller. 2 June 1877.
- 3.Skinn, Dez. "The End of HoH" . DezSkinn.com.
- 4.Howe, David J. The Target Book. Telos Publishing Ltd. 112. 2007.
- 5.Joel Rickett, Random House UK buys Virgin Books, The Bookseller, 5 March 2007 (via archive.org).
- 6.Benedicte Page, "Virgin joins Ebury stable, Sadler leaving", The Bookseller, 2 November 2009.
- 7.Star Books (Paperback Division of W. H. Allen & Co. Plc) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
- 8.Critchett & Woods. Post Office London Directory for 1820. 1799.
- 9.Britain, Great. London Gazette. 30 January 1827.
- 10.Bibliothèque nationale de France. Kingsbury, Parbury and Allen. Data.bnf.fr.
- 11.Samuel Leigh. Leigh's New Picture of London. 1827.
- 12.Parbury, Allen, and Co. WorldCat.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 15
- Asiatic Journal
- Wm. H. Allen and Co. The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australasia. XXVI. May–August 1838.
- East India Company. The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany, Volume 8. Wm. H. Allen & Company. 1832.
- Wm. H. Allen & Company. The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany, Volume 26. 1838.
- Wm. H. Allen & Company. Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany. 1839.
- Allen. The Asiatic journal and monthly register for British and foreign India, China and Australasia, Volume 29. 1839.
- Wm. H. Allen & Company. The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany, Volume 9. 1882.
- Parbury, Allen, and Company. Asiatic Journal, Volume 9. 1832.
- Catalogs
- Catalogue of Books in Oriental Literature.Published or Imported by Wm. H. Allen and Co., Booksellers to the Honourable East-India Company. 1837.
- A grammar of the Hindūstānī or Urdū language
- John Thompson Platts. A grammar of the Hindūstānī or Urdū language. W.H. Allen. 6423 of Harvard College Library preservation microfilm program. 399. 1874.
- John Thompson Platts. A grammar of the Hindūstānī or Urdū language. W.H. Allen. 399. 1892.
- Dictionaries
- Platts, John Thompson. A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English. W. H. Allen & Co. 1884. 1243728973.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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