Private company

A & C Black

Logo: Baruch Spinoza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

British book publishing company

A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2000 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing Who's Who since 1849 and the Encyclopædia Britannica between 1827 and 1903. It offers a wide variety of books in fiction and nonfiction, and has published popular travel guides, novels, and science books.2 It was founded by Adam Black.1 It is part of A. & C. Black Publishers Limited.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1807Founded1
  • HeadquartersLondon1

See how the biggest companies compare on our leaderboards

A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2000 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing Who's Who since 1849 and the Encyclopædia Britannica between 1827 and 1903. It offers a wide variety of books in fiction and nonfiction, and has published popular travel guides, novels, and science books.2

Corporate structure

A & C Black sits at the top of its group. 2 entities, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What A & C Black reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

The story

Founded by Adam Black in 1807.1

The firm was founded in 1807 by Charles and Adam Black in Edinburgh. In 1851, the company purchased the copyrights to Sir Walter Scott's Waverly novels for £27,000. The company moved to the Soho district of London in 1889.

During the years 1827–1903 the firm published the seventh, eighth and ninth editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica. This was purchased from Archibald Constable after his company's failure to publish the seventh edition of the encyclopedia. Adam Black retired in 1870 due to his disapproval of his sons' extravagant plans for its ninth edition. This edition, however, would sell half a million sets and was released in 24 volumes from 1875 to 1889.

Beginning in 1839, the firm published a series of travel guides known as Black's Guides.

The company was the publisher of the annual Who's Who (since 1849) and also, since 2002, the Whitaker's Almanack. Other notable works include Black's Medical Dictionary and the Know The Game series of sports rules and laws reference books.

The firm also published the A. & C. Black Colour Books: Twenty Shilling Series (1901–21), a "range of high-quality colour collectable picture books" which are still collected by bibliophiles.

In 1902 they published P. G. Wodehouse's first book, The Pothunters, and went on to produce many of his early works.

In 1989 A & C Black purchased both Christopher Helm Publishers and later the Pica Press, publishers of the Helm Identification Guides, from Christopher Helm.

In 2000 A & C Black was purchased by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, which continued producing the former's range of reference works.

Read the full text

In June 2002, T. & A. D. Poyser and their back-list of around 70 ornithology titles were acquired from Elsevier Science.

A & C Black purchased Methuen Drama from Methuen Publishing in 2006, and acquired Arden Shakespeare from Cengage Learning in 2008.

In 2016, A & C Black Music list moved to Collins Learning, a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

From Wikipedia’s article on A & C Black, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Leadership

Who has led A & C Black, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

  • A. & C. Black Publishers Limited since Apr 11, 1923

Owners

Also owns

Former owners and parents

  • A. & C. Black Limited Mar 5, 1915 to Apr 11, 1923
  • A. & C. Black Publishers Limited Apr 11, 1923 to Jun 2000

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. Jun 2002Acquired T. & A. D. Poyser1

Timeline

  1. Jun 2000Acquired Acquired by Bloomsbury Publishing1
  2. Apr 11, 1923Acquired Acquired by A. & C. Black Publishers Limited1
  3. Mar 5, 1915Acquired Acquired by A. & C. Black Limited1
  4. 1807Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4