Front of the original Blackwell's bookshop.

Blackwell UK is a national chain of bookshops, online retail, mail order and library services which has an annual turnover of £74 million. The Blackwell family owns two separate companies: Blackwell Publishing and Blackwell UK Limited. The publishing company, under the leadership of Nigel Blackwell, is a leading academic and journal publisher. Blackwell UK Ltd, headed by Gerry Connolly as Executive Chairman, is a retail and library supply business. Download high resolution version (883x594, 99 KB)Front of Blackwells Bookshop in Oxford (by DJ Clayworth) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (883x594, 99 KB)Front of Blackwells Bookshop in Oxford (by DJ Clayworth) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A bookstore. ... ISO 4217 Code GBP User(s) United Kingdom, the British Indian Ocean Territory[1] Inflation 2. ... Blackwell Publishing was formed in 2001 from two Oxford-based academic publishing companies, Blackwell Science and Blackwell Publishers and is the worlds leading society publisher, partnering with 665 academic and professional societies. ... This article is about the journal as a written medium. ...

The company started out as a bookshop selling academic books in Oxford, then the firm grew to include a chain of bookshops and a (now separate) publishing firm. The original shop, much expanded behind an unassuming front, still stands on Broad Street, Oxford; the company owns two bookstores on the same street covering different specialities (art and music), and several others in the city. Other Blackwell's bookshops also tend to have an academic emphasis and they are often located close to universities. This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

History

The company was founded in 1879 by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, son of the first city librarian, who having finished his education at 13, was apprenticed to a local bookseller for a shilling a week. His father, Benjamin Harris Blackwell, had been heavily involved in the Temperance Society. The society promoted, as well as religion, self-education and also encouraged reading. The society provided separate rooms for non-alcoholic refreshment and silent reading. Although a religious family, the Blackwells had also become involved with the Temperance Society due to Benjamin's father being teetotal, and as a protest against the government making money from the excise duty on alcohol. £sd (pronounced, and sometimes written, LSD) was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies used in the United Kingdom, and in most of its Empire and colonies. ... A cartoon from Australia ca. ... Teetotalism is the principle or practice of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. ... An excise is an indirect tax or duty levied on items within a country. ...

The flagship Broad Street shop in Oxford, at number 50 was originally only twelve feet square but quickly grew to incorporate the upstairs, cellar and neighbouring shops. Benjamin Henry Blackwell was well-respected in Oxford and was elected the first-ever Liberal councillor for Oxford North. Historical view of Broad Street looking east towards (left to right) the Clarendon Building, and the Sheldonian Theatre and the Old Ashmolean Building. ... This article is about the historic Liberal Party. ...

Basil Blackwell, Benjamin Henry's son, became the first Blackwell to go to university; he was awarded a scholarship at Oxford University's Merton College. However he was expected to join the family firm, which he did in 1913, after a spell as an apprentice publisher in London. He was tasked with expanding his father's publishing business. Sir Basil Blackwell son of the founder of Blackwells bookshop in Oxford, which went on to become the Blackwells family publishing and bookshop empire, located on Broad Street in Oxford. ... Scholarship is the pursuit of academic research, whether in the arts and humanities or sciences, and in all such fields means deep mastery of a subject, often through study at institutions of higher education. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... College name The House of Scholars of Merton Named after Walter de Merton Established 1264 Sister College Peterhouse Warden Prof. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

The first Blackwell publication, Mensæ Secundæ: Verses written in Balliol by H.C. Beeching, was printed in 1879. Blackwell’s began the careers of many writers: in 1915 J. R. R. Tolkien's first poem, "Goblin's Feet", was published. To ensure everyone had access to literature, Blackwell's pioneered a series of cheaper books, from a one-volume Shakespeare to "3/6 novels". The publishing company was merged into the main company in 1921, and a scientific section was added in 1939. College name Balliol College Named after John de Balliol Established 1263 Sister College St Johns Master Andrew Graham JCR President Jack Hawkins Undergraduates 403 MCR President Chelsea Payne Graduates 228 Homepage Boatclub Balliol College, founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in... John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE (January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973) was an English philologist, writer and university professor who is best known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. ... Shakespeare redirects here. ... £sd (pronounced, and sometimes written, LSD) was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies used in the United Kingdom, and in most of its Empire and colonies. ...

Basil Blackwell also wanted to preserve fine printing. After rescuing the Shakespeare's Head Press, he commissioned belles-lettres, including well-known classics such as the Pilgrim's Progress, the works of the Brontës and a complete version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Belles lettres literary works, esp essays and poetry, valued for their aesthetic qualities (i. ... The Pilgrims Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (published 1678) is an allegorical novel. ... The Brontë sisters, painted by their brother, Branwell c. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Canterbury Tales Woodcut 1484 The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). ...

When Benjamin Henry died in 1924, Basil Blackwell took over from his father, running the firm, with the nick-name "gaffer" for over sixty years.

In 1966 the Norrington Room was opened, named after Sir Arthur Norrington, the President of Trinity College and extending under part of Trinity College, It boasts three miles of shelving and at 10,000 square feet merited an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest single room selling books. College name The College of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity and Sir Thomas Pope (Knight) Named after The Holy Trinity Established 1555 Sister College Churchill College President Sir Ivor Roberts KCMG MA JCR President Richard Appleton Undergraduates 298 MCR President Andrew Ng Graduates 105 Homepage Boatclub See also Trinity... A square foot is by definition the area enclosed by a square with sides each 1 foot long. ... Suresh Joachim, minutes away from breaking the ironing world record at 55 hours and 5 minutes, at Shoppers World, Brampton. ...

Recent history

The company has made a determined policy since the 1990s to spread out from its traditional Oxford base and take on a much broader UK-wide presence.

This has included in 1995 becoming the first online bookstore in the UK that allowed its customers to purchase online, with access to over 150,000 titles; and the opening in 1998 of a flagship store in London, at 100 Charing Cross Road, which is now one of the company's six flagship stores. The company took over the Heffers string of bookshops in Cambridge in 1999, and in 2002 acquired the academic bookshops of James Thin in Scotland. Charing Cross Road, London, looking North from its junction with Long Acre. ... Geography Status City (1951) Region East of England Admin. ... James Thin was until 2002 the principal academic bookshop in Edinburgh, Scotland, with its main premises near the University of Edinburgh in Infirmary Street. ...

Blackwell's now has over 60 retail outlets across the UK, including a number of specialist stores, with several medical outlets, fantasy and science fiction stores, and even a shop in Aberdeen specialising in the oil industry. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... For other uses, see Aberdeen (disambiguation). ... The Oil industry brings to market what is currently considered the lifeblood of nearly all other industry, if not industrialized civilization itself. ...

The company is still in the hands of the Blackwell family, although the position of Executive Chairman is now filled by a non-family member, Gerry Connolly, after being held for six years by Philip Blackwell. Support for its activities, including Blackwell's Online, is based at Beaver House in Oxford.

Both the Oxford and London flagship stores have won Bookseller of the Year at the British Book Awards. The British Book Awards are given annually and promoted by the UK publishing industry trade journal Publishing News. ...

External links

• Blackwell Online
• History of Blackwell's
• Blackwell Publishing
• Photo and other information on OxfordCityGuide.com
• Blackwell's Broad Street, Oxford
• Blackwell Synergy