ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to provide a brief overview of the development of modern trade publishing. In the 1950s book publishing was broadly based with around 50 medium-sized UK fi rms each employing around 50 staff and issuing several hundred titles per year, usually in hardback. The publishers were owned privately, usually by family members who held a majority share. They concentrated on fi ction and non-fi ction – termed ‘general’ or ‘trade’ or, more recently, ‘consumer books’ – although they also developed educational (school textbook) and academic lists subservient to the general side.
