Higginbotham's is an Indian bookstore chain and publisher based in the city of
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
. The company's first bookstore at
Mount Road
Anna Salai (), named for C. N. Annadurai, formerly known as St. Thomas Mount Road or simply Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George, leading in a south-westerly direction towa ...
,
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
is India's oldest bookshop still in existence,
[ Madras Rediscovered, Pg 81] founded in 1844. The company's second bookstore in
Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
, located at M. G. Road, opened in 1905 and is the oldest existing bookstore in the city. Since 1949, Higginbotham's has been owned by the
Amalgamations Group. In the late 19th century, the company published books under the name Higginbotham & Co.
History
An English librarian named Abel Joshua Higginbotham established Higginbotham's after reportedly arriving in India as a British stowaway. The captain of the ship ejected him from the ship at Madras port, after he was discovered on board.
In the 1840s, he found employment as a librarian with a bookstore named Wesleyan Book Shop run by Protestant missionaries.
However, the store suffered heavy losses and the missionaries who ran the business decided to sell their shop for a low price. Higginbotham purchased the business, set up his own store and called it "Higginbotham's" in the year 1844.
Higginbotham's is, therefore, India's oldest bookstore in existence.
It soon gained a reputation for quality. John Murray, in his ''Guidebook to the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay'' in 1859, describes Higginbotham's as the "premier bookshop of Madras".
In March 1859, in a letter to
Lord Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was an English historian, poet, and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster General between 184 ...
,
Lord Trevelyan, the Governor of Madras wrote:
Higginbotham's started selling stationery
and also publishing and printing their own books from the 1860s onwards.
[
] When the British Crown took over the governance of India from the British East India Company by the Queen's Proclamation of 1858, Higginbotham's printed copies of the Proclamation in English and Tamil and distributed them all over the Presidency.
Higginbotham's were appointed as the "official booksellers to
His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales" during the latter's visit to India in 1875.
Its first publication ‘Sweet Dishes: A little Treatise on Confectionary' by Wyvern, came out in 1884. Higginbotham's became official book-supplier to government and to various institutions, with different customers from British Prime Minister
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...
(in office 1945-1951) to the last Maharaja of
Mysore
Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...
,
Jayachamaraja Wodeyar. Abel Joshua Higginbotham served as the
Sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...
of Madras in 1888 and 1889.
From 1890 to 1920, Higginbotham's were the sole suppliers to the
Connemara Public Library.
James Higgs, who was the Managing Director from 1890 onwards, was a prominent
Freemason
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
who had previously served as the Grand Deacon of England and the Deputy District Grand Master of Master.
Higginbotham's was renamed Higginbotham & Co in 1888. Abel was Sheriff of Madras during 1888 and 1889. During this period, he involved his son C. H. Higginbotham in the business.
On Abel's death in 1891, the firm passed on to the hands of his son C. H. Higginbotham.
C. H. expanded the business beyond Madras, and across South India.
Since 1944, Higginbotham bookstalls were established in many railway stations on the South Indian Railway and the Southern Mahratta Railway.
In 1904, the company's diamond jubilee year, the bookstore shifted to its current location on Mount Road. The new bookstore was specifically built for the firm, and designed to house books. Its high, sloping roof provided improved air circulation, and very few windows were built to prevent dust from entering.
In 1929, Higginbotham's had as many as 400 employees.
Higginbotham's opened its first bookstore in Bangalore at M.G. Road (then known as South Parade) in 1905. The store was located in a two-storey Graeco-Roman-style building constructed in 1897.
This is the oldest bookstore in existence in the city.
In 1925, John Oakshott Robinson of the Spencer's conglomerate purchased Higginbotham's, and merged the company with his printing firm Associated Printers, to establish Associated Publishers.
Associated Publishers was acquired by
S. Anantharamakrishnan of Amalgamations Group in 1945, and has remained a part of the conglomerate ever since.
Some of Higginbotham's famous customers included
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...
,
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and Indian independence ...
and
S. Radhakrishnan.
Rev. Miller, a pioneer of the
Madras Christian College
Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institut ...
, was another regular at Higginbotham's.
Higginbotham's was the largest bookstore in India until the 1990s.
In 1989, renovations helped restore the original look to the Mount Road building.
In mid-2015, the Bangalore bookstore was closed for renovations to revamp its interiors. The store was re-opened in February 2017.
Branches
Higginbothams has a chain of 22 outlets spread across the
South India
South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...
n states of
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
,
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...
,
Karnataka
Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
and
Kerala
Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
.
See also
*
Heritage structures in Chennai
Chennai, with historically rich records dating at least from the Pallava dynasty, time of the Pallavas, houses 2,467 heritage buildings within its metropolitan area (Chennai Metropolitan Area, CMA), the highest within any metropolitan area limit ...
*
A H Wheeler & Co
References
Further reading
*
{{Authority control
Bookstores of India
Book publishing companies of India
Publishing companies established in 1844
Retail companies established in 1844
Buildings and structures in Chennai
Buildings and structures in Bengaluru
Heritage sites in Chennai
Indian companies established in 1844