Matthew Henry Hodder was a partner in the Congregational Union publisher Jackson, Walford and Hodder before joining with John Stoughton to found the firm Hodder and Stoughton in London in 1868. A specialist publisher of religious works, the firm gradually developed a general list, but continued its interest in Christian evangelical publication, and was always vigilant of moral standards in its publications. From 1886 to 1946 it published the journal British Weekly, which contained a literary section as well as religious news.
Hodder and Stoughton made cooperative arrangements with other publishers. In 1906 it began a long association with Oxford University Press, with which it shared publication of children's books and educational material. It participated in the creation of a new scholarly press, University of London Press, Limited (ULP) in 1910, and in 1934 established the English Universities Press (EUP) which published technical and self-education books; by 1961 half of Hodder and Stoughton's output consisted of ULP and EUP publications. Between 1908 and 1924 it owned a third share in the American publisher George H. Doran, which provided mutual benefits in international marketing.
In the 1920s Hodder and Stoughton saturated the market for popular fiction, which it published in cheap 'yellow-jackets'. Its dominance extended to other countries, including Australia, where it appointed a full-time representative, Bill Smart, in 1921. Hodder and Stoughton catered for the Australian fiction market with cheap reprints of popular authors such as Baroness Orczy, Edgar Wallace, Arthur Conan Doyle and Zane Grey. At the same time, the company was the single largest publisher of books by Australian authors.
The firm established the Brockhampton Press in 1940, which employed Enid Blyton, who together with W. E. Johns soon achieved outstanding children's sales. In 1947 Hodder and Stoughton became part of a partnership which owned Pan Books. It also established its own paperback imprints: Coronet, Knight, and Hodder Paperbacks. All areas of publishing expanded in the 1960s and 1970s, and in 1986 sales were more than forty-five million pounds.
Hodder and Stoughton merged with Headline in 1993, to form Hodder Headline. That company became part of the Hachette Group in 2004, and the Hodder and Stoughton imprint continued for quality non-fiction, including biography, memoirs, history, sport, entertainment and lifestyle.
