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Routledge

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For people named Routledge, seeRoutledge (surname).

Routledge
Parent companyTaylor & Francis
StatusActive
Founded1851;173 years ago(1851)
FounderGeorge Routledge
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Headquarters locationMilton Park,Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK
DistributionWorld wide
Key peopleJeremy North
(MD Books)[1]
Publication typesBooks andacademic journals
Nonfiction topicsHumanities,social science,behavioral science,education,law
Official websiteroutledge

Routledge(/ˈraʊtlɪdʒ/ROWT-lij)[2]is a Britishmultinationalpublisher. It was founded in 1836 byGeorge Routledge,and specialises in providingacademicbooks,journalsand online resources in the fields of thehumanities,behavioural science,education,law,andsocial 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 andimprintof its former rival,Taylor & Francis Group(T&F), as a result of a £90-million acquisition deal fromCinven,a venture capital group which had purchased it two years previously for £25 million.[6]Following the merger ofInformaand T&F in 2004, Routledge became a publishing unit and major imprint within the Informa "academic publishing" division.[7]Routledge is headquartered in the main T&F office inMilton Park,Abingdon, Oxfordshire and also operates from T&F offices globally including inPhiladelphia,Melbourne,New Delhi,Singapore,andBeijing.[8]

History[edit]

The firm originated in 1836, when the London booksellerGeorge Routledgepublished 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 GermanTauchnitzfamily, which became known as the "Railway Library".[9][10]

The venture was a success as railway usage grew, and it eventually led to Routledge, along with W H Warne's brotherFrederick Warne,to found the company,George Routledge & Co.in 1851.[11] The following year in 1852, the company gained lucrative business through selling reprints ofUncle Tom's Cabin,(in thepublic domainin the UK) which in turn enabled it to pay authorEdward Bulwer-Lytton£20,000 for a 10-yearleaseallowing sole rights to print all 35 of his works[9][12]including 19 of his novels to be sold cheaply as part of their "Railway Library" series.[13]

Routledge stand at Senate House History Day 2018

The company was restyled in 1858 asRoutledge, Warne & Routledgewhen 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).[14]Gaining rights to some titles, he foundedFrederick Warne & Co.in 1865, which became known for itsBeatrix Potterbooks.[15]In July 1865, George Routledge's sonEdmund Routledgebecame a partner, and the firm becameGeorge Routledge & Sons.[16]

By 1899, the company was running close tobankruptcy.Following a successful restructuring in 1902 by scientistSir William Crookes,bankerArthur Ellis Franklin,William Swan Sonnenscheinas 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 ofKegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.,the descendant of companies founded byCharles Kegan Paul,Alexander Chenevix Trench,Nicholas Trübner,and George Redway.[17]

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 (theumlauthad been quietly dropped in theFirst World War) under the name ofRoutledge & Kegan Paul.[18]UsingC. K. Ogdenand laterKarl Mannheimas advisers the company was soon particularly known for its titles inphilosophy,psychologyand thesocial sciences.

In 1985, Routledge & Kegan Paul joined withAssociated Book Publishers(ABP),[19]which was later acquired byInternational Thomsonin 1987. Under Thomson's ownership, Routledge's name and operations were retained, with the additions of backlists fromMethuen,Tavistock Publications,Croom Helm andUnwin Hyman.[20]In 1996, amanagement buyoutfinanced by the Europeanprivate equityfirmCinvensaw Routledge operating as an independent company once again. In 1997, Cinven acquired journals publisher Carfax and book publisher Spon.[21]In 1998, Cinven and Routledge's directors accepted a deal for Routledge's acquisition byTaylor & Francis Group(T&F), with the Routledge name being retained as an imprint and subdivision.[22][6]

In 2004, T&F became a division withinInforma plcafter a merger. Routledge continues as a primary publishing unit and imprint within Informa's 'academic publishing' division, publishing academichumanitiesandsocial sciencebooks, journals, reference works and digital products. Routledge has grown considerably as a result oforganic growthand acquisitions of other publishing companies and other publishers' titles by its parent company.[23][24][25]Humanities and social sciences titles acquired by T&F from other publishers arerebrandedunder the Routledgeimprint.[24]

Routledge is a signatory of theSDG Publishers Compact,[26][27]and has taken steps to support the achievement of theSustainable Development Goals(SDGs). These include achieving CarbonNeutral® publication certification for their print books and journals, under the Natural Capital Partners' CarbonNeutral Protocol.[28]

People[edit]

The English publisherFredric Warburgwas acommissioning editorat Routledge during the early 20th century. Novelist Nina Stibbe, author ofLove, Nina,worked at the company as a commissioning editor in the 1990s.[29]Cultural studieseditorWilliam Germanoserved as vice-president and publishing director for two decades before becoming dean of the humanities atCooper Union.[30]

Authors[edit]

Routledge has published works fromAdorno,Bohm,Butler,Derrida,Einstein,Foucault,Freud,Al Gore,Hayek,Hoppe,Jung,Levi-Strauss,McLuhan,Malinowski,Marcuse,Popper,Johan Rockström,Russell,Sartre,andWittgenstein.The republished works of some of these authors have appeared as part of the Routledge Classics[31]and Routledge Great Minds series. Competitors to the series areVerso Books'Radical Thinkers,Penguin Classics,andOxford World's Classics.[citation needed]

Publications[edit]

See also the categoriesRoutledge booksandRoutledge academic journals

Routledge has been criticised for a pricing structure which "will limit readership to the privileged few", as opposed to options foropen accessoffered byDOAJ,Unpaywall,andDOAB.[32]

Reference works[edit]

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

Reference worksby Europa Publications, published by Routledge:

Many of Routledge'sreference worksare published in print and electronic formats as Routledge Handbooks and have their own dedicated website: Routledge Handbooks Online.[37]The company also publishes several online encyclopedias and collections of digital content such asRoutledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy,[33]Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism,[38]Routledge Performance Archive,[39]and South Asia Archive.[40]

Routledge Worldsseries consisted of 66 books as of July 2023, which the publisher described as "magisterial surveys of key historical epochs".[41]Included in the series areThe Sikh World,The Pentecostal World,published in 2023,The Quaker World,The Ancient Israelite World,andThe Sámi Worldpublished in 2022.[41]

Book series[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^"Managing Director, Humanities & Social Science Books, Taylor & Francis Group".Informa.Archived fromthe originalon 14 February 2016.Retrieved24 January2016.
  2. ^Upton, Clive;Kretzschmar, William A. Jr. (2017).The Routledge Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English(2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 1164.ISBN978-1-138-12566-7.
  3. ^"About Us – Routledge".Archivedfrom the original on 6 June 2023.Retrieved1 July2023.
  4. ^"Publishing With Us – Routledge".Taylor & Francis Group. 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 21 July 2019.Retrieved24 January2016.
  5. ^"Outsell HSS Market Size Share Forecast"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 5 May 2016.Retrieved22 December2016.
  6. ^abCope 1998.
  7. ^"Academic Publishing".Archived fromthe originalon 10 September 2017.Retrieved22 December2016.
  8. ^"T&F Group Global Offices".Archivedfrom the original on 28 September 2018.Retrieved22 December2016.
  9. ^ab"Yellowbacks: III – Routledge's Railway Library".Archivedfrom the original on 16 February 2015.Retrieved15 February2015.
  10. ^abWagner, David Paul."Routledge's Railway Library (George Routledge)".Book Series List.Publishing History.Archivedfrom the original on 19 March 2022.Retrieved10 August2019.
  11. ^"UCL Library Services: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd Archives – 1850–1984".Archivedfrom the original on 16 February 2015.Retrieved15 February2015.
  12. ^Sutherland 2009,pp. 527, 553.
  13. ^Barnes, James J.; Barnes, Patience P. (2004). "Routledge, George".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24184.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  14. ^"William Henry Warne (1822–1859) – Genealogy".Geni.Archivedfrom the original on 16 February 2015.Retrieved16 February2015.
  15. ^"Taylor and Francis Informa".ketupa.net.Archived fromthe originalon 9 April 2016.Retrieved16 February2015.
  16. ^"Routledge, George".Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 49.Archivedfrom the original on 14 September 2015.Retrieved10 November2015– via Wikisource.
  17. ^"PUBLISHER: Kegan Paul, Trench & Company; Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Company, London".The Lucile Project.University of Iowa.Archivedfrom the original on 6 November 2016.Retrieved12 December2016.
  18. ^Franklin 1986.
  19. ^Whipp 1992,p. 47.
  20. ^Richardson, Jean (13 May 1996)."U.K. venture firm to buy Routledge".Publishers Weekly.243(20): 16–17.ISSN0000-0019.Archivedfrom the original on 2 June 2024.Retrieved30 October2022.
  21. ^Kernan, M. A. (2013)."Routledge as a global publisher: A case study, 1980-2010".Publishing Research Quarterly.29(1): 52–72.doi:10.1007/s12109-013-9304-9.ISSN1053-8801.S2CID255517143.Archivedfrom the original on 20 December 2019.Retrieved23 March2023.
  22. ^Clark & Phillips 2008,p. xvi.
  23. ^Munroe, Mary Hovas (13 March 2007)."Taylor & Francis".Academic publishing industry: A story of merger and acquisition.DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Libraries.
  24. ^abTaylor & Francis
  25. ^"Results for 12 months to 31st December 2015"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on 27 September 2018.Retrieved22 December2016.
  26. ^"SDG Publishers Compact Members".United Nations Sustainable Development.Archivedfrom the original on 26 July 2023.Retrieved18 July2023.
  27. ^"SDG Publishers Compact".United Nations Sustainable Development.Archivedfrom the original on 21 July 2023.Retrieved20 July2023.
  28. ^"Our Commitment to Sustainable Publishing".Routledge.Archivedfrom the original on 12 August 2023.Retrieved31 August2023.
  29. ^"About Nina Stibbe".Archivedfrom the original on 4 February 2023.Retrieved22 December2016.
  30. ^"William Germano, Editor and Key Figure in Rise of Cultural Studies, Is Ousted by Publishing House".Chronicle of Higher Education.15 September 2005.Archivedfrom the original on 17 April 2023.Retrieved8 March2022.
  31. ^"Routledge Classics and Routledge Great Minds".Archivedfrom the original on 18 January 2020.Retrieved22 December2016.
  32. ^Fister, Barbara (22 October 2019)."The Writing on the Unpaywall".Inside Higher Ed.Archivedfrom the original on 8 December 2022.Retrieved25 April2020.
  33. ^ab"Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy".Archivedfrom the original on 28 October 2019.Retrieved22 December2016.
  34. ^"Europa World Online".Archived fromthe originalon 1 January 2017.Retrieved22 December2016.
  35. ^"World Who's Who".Archived fromthe originalon 19 March 2022.Retrieved22 December2016.
  36. ^"The Europa World of Learning".worldoflearning.Archivedfrom the original on 23 July 2008.Retrieved18 August2006.
  37. ^"Routledge Handbooks Online".routledgehandbooks.Archivedfrom the original on 30 April 2023.Retrieved22 December2016.
  38. ^"Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism".rem.routledge.Archivedfrom the original on 6 April 2023.Retrieved22 December2016.
  39. ^"Routledge Performance Archive".routledgeperformancearchive.Archivedfrom the original on 29 April 2023.Retrieved22 December2016.
  40. ^"South Asia Archive".southasiaarchive.Archivedfrom the original on 24 May 2022.Retrieved22 December2016.
  41. ^ab"Routledge Worlds - Book Series - Routledge & CRC Press".Routledge.Archivedfrom the original on 15 July 2023.Retrieved15 July2023.
  42. ^Stone, Thomas E."Collecting The Broadway Travellers Series".The Books In My Life blog.Archivedfrom the original on 19 April 2019.Retrieved10 August2019.
  43. ^"Colloquial Series".routledge.Archived fromthe originalon 6 March 2023.Retrieved14 January2018.
  44. ^"Routledge Essential Grammars – Book Series – Routledge & CRC Press".routledge.Archivedfrom the original on 30 November 2022.Retrieved18 October2021.
  45. ^"Morley's Universal Library (George Routledge) - Book Series List".publishinghistory.Archived fromthe originalon 24 June 2018.Retrieved24 June2018.
  46. ^Krygier, John (28 March 2016)."Muses' Library".A Series of Series.Ohio Wesleyan University.Archivedfrom the original on 13 April 2019.Retrieved10 August2019– viaWordPress.
  47. ^Krygier, John (December 2017)."Republic of Letters".A Series of Series. Ohio Wesleyan University.Archivedfrom the original on 13 April 2019.Retrieved10 August2019.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRoutledge.
  • Official website
  • History of Routledge
  • Routledge Revivals:Reprints from humanities and social sciences publications, from the backlists of Routledge imprints.
  • Routledge & Kegan Paul Archives:Ledgers, authors' agreements, printed catalogues and other papers 1853–1973, University College London.
  • Records of Routledge & Kegan Paul:Correspondence files covering the period 1935 to 1990, as well as review files 1950s–1990s, Special Collections,University of Reading Library.
  • Archives of George Routledge & Company 1853–1902, Chadwyck-Healey Ltd, 1973. 6 reels of microfilm and printed index. (Available from ProQuest)
  • Archives of Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Henry S. King 1858–1912, Chadwyck-Healey Ltd,1973. 27 reels of microfilm with index on microfiche. (Available from Proquest)

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