Routledge Explained

Parent:Taylor & Francis
Status:Active
Founder:George Routledge
Country:United Kingdom
Headquarters:Milton Park, Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Distribution:World wide
Keypeople:Jeremy North
(MD Books)[1]
Publications:Books and academic journals
Topics:Humanities, social science, behavioral science, education, law

Routledge [2] is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and social science.The company publishes approximately 1,800 journals and 5,000 new books each year and their backlist encompasses over 140,000 titles.[3] Routledge is claimed to be the largest global academic publisher within humanities and social sciences.[4] [5]

In 1998, Routledge became a subdivision and imprint of its former rival, Taylor & Francis Group (T&F), as a result of a £90-million acquisition deal from Cinven, a venture capital group which had purchased it two years previously for £25 million. Following the merger of Informa and T&F in 2004, Routledge became a publishing unit and major imprint within the Informa "academic publishing" division.[6] Routledge is headquartered in the main T&F office in Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire and also operates from T&F offices globally including in Philadelphia, Melbourne, New Delhi, Singapore, and Beijing.[7]

History

The firm originated in 1836, when the London bookseller George Routledge published an unsuccessful guidebook, The Beauties of Gilsland, with his brother-in-law W. H. (William Henry) Warne as assistant. In 1848, the pair entered the booming market for selling inexpensive imprints of works of fiction to rail travellers, in the style of the German Tauchnitz family, which became known as the "Railway Library".[8]

The venture was a success as railway usage grew, and it eventually led to Routledge, along with W H Warne's brother Frederick Warne, to found the company, George Routledge & Co. in 1851.[9] The following year in 1852, the company gained lucrative business through selling reprints of Uncle Tom's Cabin, (in the public domain in the UK) which in turn enabled it to pay author Edward Bulwer-Lytton £20,000 for a 10-year lease allowing sole rights to print all 35 of his works[8] including 19 of his novels to be sold cheaply as part of their "Railway Library" series.[10] The company was restyled in 1858 as Routledge, Warne & Routledge when George Routledge's son, Robert Warne Routledge, entered the partnership. Frederick Warne eventually left the company after the death of his brother W. H. Warne in May 1859 (died aged 37).[11] Gaining rights to some titles, he founded Frederick Warne & Co. in 1865, which became known for its Beatrix Potter books.[12] In July 1865, George Routledge's son Edmund Routledge became a partner, and the firm became George Routledge & Sons.[13]

By 1899, the company was running close to bankruptcy. Following a successful restructuring in 1902 by scientist Sir William Crookes, banker Arthur Ellis Franklin, William Swan Sonnenschein as managing director, and others, however, it was able to recover and began to acquire and merge with other publishing companies including J. C. Nimmo Ltd. in 1903. In 1912, the company took over the management of Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., the descendant of companies founded by Charles Kegan Paul, Alexander Chenevix Trench, Nicholas Trübner, and George Redway.[14]

These early 20th-century acquisitions brought with them lists of notable scholarly titles, and from 1912 onward, the company became increasingly concentrated in the academic and scholarly publishing business under the imprint "Kegan Paul Trench Trubner", as well as reference, fiction and mysticism. In 1947, George Routledge and Sons finally merged with Kegan Paul Trench Trubner (the umlaut had been quietly dropped in the First World War) under the name of Routledge & Kegan Paul. Using C. K. Ogden and later Karl Mannheim as advisers the company was soon particularly known for its titles in philosophy, psychology and the social sciences.

In 1985, Routledge & Kegan Paul joined with Associated Book Publishers (ABP), which was later acquired by International Thomson in 1987. Under Thomson's ownership, Routledge's name and operations were retained, with the additions of backlists from Methuen, Tavistock Publications, Croom Helm and Unwin Hyman.[15] In 1996, a management buyout financed by the European private equity firm Cinven saw Routledge operating as an independent company once again. In 1997, Cinven acquired journals publisher Carfax and book publisher Spon.[16] In 1998, Cinven and Routledge's directors accepted a deal for Routledge's acquisition by Taylor & Francis Group (T&F), with the Routledge name being retained as an imprint and subdivision.

In 2004, T&F became a division within Informa plc after a merger. Routledge continues as a primary publishing unit and imprint within Informa's 'academic publishing' division, publishing academic humanities and social science books, journals, reference works and digital products. Routledge has grown considerably as a result of organic growth and acquisitions of other publishing companies and other publishers' titles by its parent company.[17] [18] [19] Humanities and social sciences titles acquired by T&F from other publishers are rebranded under the Routledge imprint.[18]

Routledge is a signatory of the SDG Publishers Compact,[20] [21] and has taken steps to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include achieving CarbonNeutral® publication certification for their print books and journals, under the Natural Capital Partners' CarbonNeutral Protocol.[22]

People

The English publisher Fredric Warburg was a commissioning editor at Routledge during the early 20th century. Novelist Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina, worked at the company as a commissioning editor in the 1990s.[23] Cultural studies editor William Germano served as vice-president and publishing director for two decades before becoming dean of the humanities at Cooper Union.[24]

Authors

Routledge has published works from Adorno, Bohm, Butler, Derrida, Einstein, Foucault, Freud, Al Gore, Hayek, Hoppe, Jung, Levi-Strauss, McLuhan, Malinowski, Marcuse, Popper, Johan Rockström, Russell, Sartre, and Wittgenstein. The republished works of some of these authors have appeared as part of the Routledge Classics[25] and Routledge Great Minds series. Competitors to the series are Verso Books' Radical Thinkers, Penguin Classics, and Oxford World's Classics.

Publications

Routledge has been criticised for a pricing structure which "will limit readership to the privileged few", as opposed to options for open access offered by DOAJ, Unpaywall, and DOAB.[26]

Reference works

Taylor and Francis closed down the Routledge print encyclopaedia division in 2006. Some of its publications were:

Reference works by Europa Publications, published by Routledge:

Many of Routledge's reference works are published in print and electronic formats as Routledge Handbooks and have their own dedicated website: Routledge Handbooks Online.[31] The company also publishes several online encyclopedias and collections of digital content such as Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism,[32] Routledge Performance Archive,[33] and South Asia Archive.[34]

Routledge Worlds series consisted of 66 books as of July 2023, which the publisher described as "magisterial surveys of key historical epochs".[35] Included in the series are The Sikh World, The Pentecostal World, published in 2023, The Quaker World, The Ancient Israelite World, and The Sámi World published in 2022.[35]

Book series

established in 1891 by Lawrence & Bullen as a series of fine editions of poetry until L&B folded in 1900, Routledge revived the series in 1904 with reprints and new titles. Over the years parallel editions were published in the US by Charles Scribner's Sons, E.P. Dutton and Harvard University Press[40]

were sold through W. H. Smith's bookstalls on railway platforms; in 50 years 1,277 books were published, most as pictorial hardbacks, with some bestsellers re-released as cheaper paperbacks. Authors included Edward Bulwer Lytton, James Fenimore Cooper, Jane Austen, Benjamin Disraeli, Henry Fielding, Frances Trollope, William Harrison Ainsworth, Alexandre Dumas, and Victor Hugo[42]

References

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Managing Director, Humanities & Social Science Books, Taylor & Francis Group. Informa. 24 January 2016. 14 February 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160214051023/http://informa.com/divisions/academic-publishing/management-team/jeremy-north/. dead.
  2. 1164.
  3. Web site: About Us – Routledge. 1 July 2023. 6 June 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230606184013/https://www.routledge.com/corporate/about-us. live.
  4. Web site: Publishing With Us – Routledge. 2016. Taylor & Francis Group. 24 January 2016. 21 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190721084337/https://www.routledge.com/resources/authors/publishing. live.
  5. Web site: Outsell HSS Market Size Share Forecast. 22 December 2016. 5 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160505150622/http://digest.sagepub.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Outsell_Market_Performance_16jan2015_HSS_Market_Size_Share_Forecast.pdf. dead.
  6. Web site: Academic Publishing. 22 December 2016. 10 September 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170910164259/https://informa.com/divisions/academic-publishing/. dead.
  7. Web site: T&F Group Global Offices. 22 December 2016. 28 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180928122833/https://taylorandfrancis.com/contact/global-offices/. live.
  8. Web site: Yellowbacks: III – Routledge's Railway Library. 15 February 2015. 16 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150216061157/http://www.bl.uk/collections/early/victorian/yellow/yellow3.html. live.
  9. Web site: UCL Library Services: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd Archives – 1850–1984 . 15 February 2015 . 16 February 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150216063752/http://archives.ucl.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=RefNo

    %27ROUTLEDGE%27&dsqDb=Catalog

    . live .
  10. 24184. Routledge, George. 2004. Barnes. James J.. Barnes. Patience P..
  11. Web site: William Henry Warne (1822–1859) – Genealogy. Geni . 16 February 2015. 16 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150216060357/http://www.geni.com/people/William-Warne/6000000012518167353. live.
  12. Web site: Taylor and Francis Informa. ketupa.net. 16 February 2015. 9 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160409074957/http://ketupa.net/tfinforma.htm. dead.
  13. Web site: Routledge, George . Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 49 . Wikisource . 10 November 2015. 14 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150914134430/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Routledge,_George_%28DNB00%29. live.
  14. Web site: PUBLISHER: Kegan Paul, Trench & Company; Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Company, London . The Lucile Project . . 12 December 2016 . 6 November 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161106104908/http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/lucile/publishers/kegan/kegan.htm . live .
  15. 0000-0019. 243. 20. 16–17. Richardson. Jean. U.K. venture firm to buy Routledge. Publishers Weekly. 2022-10-30. 1996-05-13. 2 June 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240602204029/https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&issn=00000019&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA18283959&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs&userGroupName=anon%7E4aef6bab&aty=open-web-entry. live.
  16. 10.1007/s12109-013-9304-9. 1053-8801. 29. 1. 52–72. Kernan. M. A.. Routledge as a global publisher: A case study, 1980-2010. Publishing Research Quarterly. 2023-03-23. 2013. 255517143. 20 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191220213311/https://link.springer.com/journal/12109. live.
  17. Book: Munroe, Mary Hovas . 13 March 2007 . Taylor & Francis . https://ulib.niu.edu/publishers/TaylorFrancis.htm . Academic publishing industry: A story of merger and acquisition . DeKalb, IL . Northern Illinois University Libraries .
  18. [Taylor & Francis]
  19. Web site: Results for 12 months to 31st December 2015. 22 December 2016. 27 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180927125456/https://informa.com/Documents/Investor%20Relations/2016/FY2015/20160210%20FY%20Results%20Statement%20-%20Final.pdf. live.
  20. Web site: SDG Publishers Compact Members . United Nations Sustainable Development . 18 July 2023 . 26 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230726040805/https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sdg-publishers-compact-members/ . live .
  21. Web site: SDG Publishers Compact . United Nations Sustainable Development . 20 July 2023 . 21 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230721053207/https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sdg-publishers-compact/ . live .
  22. Web site: Our Commitment to Sustainable Publishing . Routledge . 31 August 2023 . 12 August 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230812233820/https://www.routledge.com/our-commitment-to-sustainable-publishing . live .
  23. Web site: About Nina Stibbe . 22 December 2016 . 4 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230204122431/https://www.ninastibbe.com/about/ . live .
  24. Web site: William Germano, Editor and Key Figure in Rise of Cultural Studies, Is Ousted by Publishing House . 2022-03-08 . Chronicle of Higher Education . 15 September 2005 . 17 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230417152003/https://www.chronicle.com/article/william-germano-editor-and-key-figure-in-rise-of-cultural-studies-is-ousted-by-publishing-house/?emailConfirmed=true&supportSignUp=true&supportForgotPassword=true&email=zf2148@columbia.edu&success=true&code=success&bc_nonce=atbbaolc1ojnm7zlh3acvi&cid=gen_sign_in . live .
  25. Web site: Routledge Classics and Routledge Great Minds. 22 December 2016. 18 January 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200118020938/https://www.routledge.com/classics. live.
  26. October 22, 2019 . 2020-04-25. The Writing on the Unpaywall. Inside Higher Ed. Barbara . Fister. 8 December 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221208140016/https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/writing-unpaywall. live.
  27. Web site: Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy . 22 December 2016 . 28 October 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191028234800/https://www.rep.routledge.com/ . live .
  28. Web site: Europa World Online . 22 December 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170101225205/http://www.europaworld.com/pub/ . Jan 1, 2017 .
  29. Web site: World Who's Who . 22 December 2016 . 19 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220319203916/https://www.worldwhoswho.com/public/views/home.html . dead .
  30. Web site: The Europa World of Learning . worldoflearning.com . 18 August 2006 . 23 July 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080723172029/http://www.worldoflearning.com/ . live .
  31. Web site: Routledge Handbooks Online . routledgehandbooks.com . 22 December 2016 . 30 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230430201405/https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/ . live .
  32. Web site: Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism . rem.routledge.com . 22 December 2016 . 6 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230406121145/https://www.rem.routledge.com/ . live .
  33. Web site: Routledge Performance Archive . routledgeperformancearchive.com . 22 December 2016 . 29 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230429061125/https://www.routledgeperformancearchive.com/ . live .
  34. Web site: South Asia Archive . southasiaarchive.com . 22 December 2016 . 24 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220524131700/http://www.southasiaarchive.com/unauthenticated . live .
  35. Web site: Routledge Worlds - Book Series - Routledge & CRC Press. July 15, 2023. Routledge. 15 July 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230715010334/https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Worlds/book-series/WORLDS. live.
  36. Web site: Collecting The Broadway Travellers Series . The Books In My Life blog . 10 August 2019 . Thomas E. . Stone . 19 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190419224847/http://www.thebooksinmylife.com/p/broadway-travellers.html . live .
  37. Web site: Colloquial Series . https://web.archive.org/web/20230306180834/https://www.routledge.com/Colloquial-Series/book-series/SE0069 . 6 March 2023 . Routledge . 14 January 2018.
  38. Web site: Routledge Essential Grammars – Book Series . 2021-10-18. Routledge & CRC Press . 30 November 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221130050355/https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Essential-Grammars/book-series/SE0549?pd=published,forthcoming&pg=3&pp=12&so=pub&view=list. live.
  39. Web site: Morley's Universal Library (George Routledge) - Book Series List . https://web.archive.org/web/20180624063936/http://www.publishinghistory.com/morleys-universal-library-routledge.html . 24 June 2018 . Publishing History . 24 June 2018.
  40. Web site: Muses' Library . . . A Series of Series . 10 August 2019 . Krygier . John . 28 March 2016 . 13 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190413055719/https://seriesofseries.owu.edu/the-muses-library/ . live .
  41. Web site: Republic of Letters . Ohio Wesleyan University . A Series of Series . 10 August 2019 . Krygier . John . December 2017 . 13 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190413060826/https://seriesofseries.owu.edu/republic-of-letters/ . live .
  42. Web site: Routledge's Railway Library (George Routledge) . Publishing History . Book Series List . 10 August 2019 . Wagner . David Paul . 19 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220319203915/https://www.publishinghistory.com/routledges-railway-library.html . live .

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