AustLit logo

AustLit

Samuel French Samuel French i(A40302 works by) (Organisation) assertion (a.k.a. Samuel French and Son; T. Henry French; T. H. French; S. French; French)
Born: Established: 1846 New York (City), New York (State),
c
United States of America (USA),
c
Americas,
;
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

Samuel French established a publishing company in New York in 1846, and initially reprinted novels from popular periodicals. In the early 1850s French began publishing drama in series in small, paperbound volumes which included stage directions for amateur performers, so pioneering the concept of providing published scripts to theatrical producing groups. The company became the American representative, and later the owner, of Thomas Hailes Lacy, the leading British publisher of plays.

When his son Thomas Henry joined the firm in 1870 and took over the New York office, Samuel moved to London, where he began to collect royalties for performances of the company's plays. Samuel French died in 1898 and the New York and London branches of the company were sold separately and continued independently until 1975, when they were reunited.

Samuel French continued as the largest supplier of plays in the United States and Great Britain, and to publish plays, both produced and unproduced, into the twenty-first century. It also continued to buy acting-edition rights and to collect royalties on performances.

Most Referenced Works

Last amended 10 Mar 2008 11:49:34
See Also
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X