'The firm of George Allen & Sons began in 1871 as the publisher of John Ruskin, acquiring the publishing branch of Bemrose & Sons in 1909. In 1911 it merged with Swan Sonnenschein to form George Allen & Co. Ltd. ... Stanley Unwin, who had previously worked for his uncle T. Fisher Unwin, acquired an interest, and the firm of George Allen & Unwin Ltd was formally registered on 4 August 1914 ... By 1934 he had full control of the business, which he retained until his death in 1968 ... In 1986 Allen & Unwin merged with Bell & Hyman, forming the company Unwin Hyman, which was then purchased by HarperCollins in July 1990. HarperCollins sold the Unwin Hyman academic division to Thomson Books' Routledge division. Routledge was subsequently acquired by the Taylor & Francis Group. Allen & Unwin continued as an independent publishing firm in Australia and New Zealand.' (Adapted from the 'Records of George Allen & Unwin Ltd' finding aid at the University of Reading. (Sighted 28/11/03: http://www.library.rdg.ac.uk/colls/special/allenunwin.html)
