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Thomas Nelson is a
publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
firm that began in West Bow,
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Scotland, in 1798, as the namesake of its founder. It is a
subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
, the publishing unit of
News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...
. It describes itself as a "world leading publisher and provider of Christian content". Its most successful title to date is '' Heaven Is for Real''. In Canada, the Nelson imprint is used for educational publishing. In the United Kingdom, it was an independent publisher until 1962, and later became part of the educational imprint
Nelson Thornes Nelson Thornes was a publishing firm located in Cheltenham, UK. Started in 1968, as Stanley Thornes, the company began primarily publishing English textbooks for students before branching out into other areas of education. In 2001 Stanley Th ...
.


British history

Thomas Nelson Sr. founded the shop that bears his name in Edinburgh in 1798, originally as a second-hand bookshop at 2 West Bow, just off the city's
Grassmarket The Grassmarket is a historic market place, street and event space in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In relation to the rest of the city it lies in a hollow, well below surrounding ground levels. Location The Grassmarket is located direct ...
, recognizing a ready market for inexpensive, standard editions of non-copyright works, which he attempted to satisfy by publishing reprints of classics. By 1822, the shop had moved to 9 West Bow, and a second shop had opened at 230 High Street, on the
Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...
. In 1835, the shop became a company, first as Thomas Nelson & Son when William joined, and in 1839 became Thomas Nelson & Sons when Thomas Jr. entered the business. Thomas Sr. died in 1861 and is buried in the extreme north-west corner of
Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hil ...
in Edinburgh. William concentrated his talents on the marketing side, and Thomas Jr. devoted his to editing and production. The firm became a publisher of new books and, as the 19th century progressed, it produced an increasingly wide range of non-religious materials; by 1881, religion accounted for less than 6 per cent of the firm's output. Its Hope Park Works in Edinburgh burned down in 1878, and the city council allowed temporary accommodation on the
Meadows A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artificia ...
. In appreciation, the company funded the stone pillars at the east end of Melville Drive. William Nelson died in 1887, and Thomas Jr. died in 1892. They were succeeded by George Brown, Thomas's nephew, who directed the company until Thomas III and Ian, Thomas Jr.'s sons, joined him and John Buchan as partners. Buchan, employed by the firm until 1929, dedicated his novel '' The Thirty-Nine Steps'' to Thomas III (Thomas Arthur Nelson) in 1914. Ian Nelson took over as head of the family firm after Thomas Nelson III's death in action in 1917, during World War I. By the early 20th century, Thomas Nelson had become a secular concern in the United Kingdom. The First World War led to the temporary rundown of Nelson through the denial of foreign markets, the loss of manpower (including the death of Thomas III), and the general exigencies of wartime, and initiated its long-term decline. Much of the effort expended during the inter-war period represented merely an attempt to reverse that decline, particularly in expanding the education list and reducing the dependence on reprints. Ian Nelson remained head of the firm until his death in 1958. Ian Nelson's successor, his son Ronnie Nelson, seemed less interested in the successful management of the family firm than previous generations. In 1962, Thomas Nelson and Sons was absorbed into the
Thomson Organisation International Thomson Organization (ITO) was a holding company for interests in publishing, travel, and natural resources, that existed from 1978 to 1989. It was formed as a reorganisation of the Thomson Organization, which had been founded by Ro ...
in an effort to sustain its academic and educational publishing interests on a global scale. The presidency of the company then passed to Hubert Peter Morrison
FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
(who had been chairman since 1958). The printing division of Nelsons was sold to the Edinburgh company Morrison and Gibb in 1968. Until 1968, according to the curators of a Senate House Library exhibition, the company "specialised in producing popular literature, children's books, bibles, religious works and educational texts." It was the first publisher for Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
.
Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...
owned the company from 1960 until 2000. That year, it was acquired by
Wolters Kluwer Wolters Kluwer N.V. () is a Dutch information services company. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands (Global) and Philadelphia, United States (corporate). Wolters Kluwer in its current form was founded in 1987 with a ...
, who merged Nelson with its existing publishing arm, Stanley Thornes, to form
Nelson Thornes Nelson Thornes was a publishing firm located in Cheltenham, UK. Started in 1968, as Stanley Thornes, the company began primarily publishing English textbooks for students before branching out into other areas of education. In 2001 Stanley Th ...
.


Original American history

The American branch of Thomas Nelson was established in 1854 in New York, and by the 1870s it was one of the city's more important firms. In a December 1873 article on "Holiday Gifts" the ''
New-York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...
'' wrote: "Thomas Nelson & Sons, No. 42 Bleecker-st., devote themselves specially to the publications of the
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, from which issues a superb variety of Bibles, Prayer-books, and
Hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chri ...
s. They are printed in every imaginary style, and bound in plain cloth, in calf, in morocco, in Russia in velvet, and in ivory. Besides these books, Messrs. Nelson have an attractive miscellaneous stock, in which a great many children's books appear, and some fine illustrated volumes." Nelson held the copyright for the
American Standard Version The American Standard Version (ASV), officially Revised Version, Standard American Edition, is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901 with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament. The revised New Testament had ...
of the Bible from 1901 until 1928 when it transferred the copyright to the International Council of Religious Education. In the 1930s, the company made a deal with this council (which later became part of the
National Council of Churches The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the Uni ...
) to publish the Revised Standard Version. The firm was sold to The Thomson Organization in 1960, and in 1962, the company failed to meet demand for this Bible translation. This, in turn, led the National Council of Churches to grant other publishers licenses for the work, leading to a dramatic fall in revenue for Nelson.


Current United States company

In 1950, 19-year-old Sam Moore came to
Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
, with an intent to pursue medical training, and he worked his way through college at the University of South Carolina and later
Columbia Bible College Columbia Bible College (CBC) is an institution of higher education in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. The college states that its mission is to "equip people for a life of discipleship, ministry and leadership in service to the church a ...
by selling Bibles
door-to-door Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a p ...
. Building on his experience, he founded the National Book Company in 1958, and Royal Publishers in 1961. When he began selling stock in the latter firm in 1962, one of his early shareholders was Morrow Coffey Graham, mother of noted evangelist
Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...
. Moore led Royal Publishers to success for the next five years, more than doubling sales every year, and resulting in the Thomson Organization asking if he would take control of Nelson's North American operations. Instead, Moore surprised Thomson by offering to purchase Nelson. Moore took over on 7 March 1969, preferring to keep the company's name and logo. In the 1960s, Thomas Nelson moved its headquarters from New York to
Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...
. It moved again to
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
, in the 1970s. From 1979 to 1982, Nelson developed the New King James Version of the Bible (also known as the Revised Authorized Version) and under Moore began diversifying the company with a gift division. In 1992, Thomas Nelson Inc. began its modern advancement. Nelson purchased the
Word A word is a basic element of language that carries an semantics, objective or pragmatics, practical semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of w ...
music and books brand from
Capital Cities/ABC Capital Cities/ABC Inc. was an American media company. It was founded in 1985 when Capital Cities Communications purchased the much larger American Broadcasting Company. It eventually proposed a merger of equals with The Walt Disney Company and ...
. In 1997, the company split the two, spinning off the record label and printed music division, one of the largest church music companies, to
Gaylord Entertainment Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. () is a hotel, resort, entertainment, and Mass media, media company named after National Historic Landmark the Ryman Auditorium, built as a tabernacle by Captain Thomas G. Ryman in 1892 and later the home of the ...
. This led to a lawsuit by Gaylord in 2001 over the ''Word'' name, and it was settled when Nelson renamed its book division the W Publishing Group. That year also led to a corporate expansion by the purchase of the Cool Springs and Rutledge Hill Press labels. In 2003, World Bible Publishers was acquired by Nelson, and the fiction label WestBow Press made its debut (all books were later consolidated under the Nelson brand and WestBow Press was resurrected in 2009 to offer self-publishing services). Also, an imprint for Internet news source
WorldNetDaily ''WND'' (formerly ''WorldNetDaily'') is an American far-right fake news website. It is known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Th ...
made its debut that year. The agreement dissolved, however, after 2004, and the former WND brand is now under the Nelson Current brand, including its authors. Thomas Nelson, now based in Nashville, publishes leading Christian authors, including
Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...
,
Max Lucado Max Lucado (born January 11, 1955) is an American author
"Lucado set a record by concurrently placing seven differe ...
,
John Eldredge John Eldredge (born June 6, 1960 in Los Angeles) is an American author, counselor, and lecturer on Christianity. He is known for his best-selling book '' Wild at Heart''. Life and work Eldregde received his undergraduate degree in theater from ...
, John Maxwell, Charles Stanley, Michael A. O'Donnell,
Ted Dekker Ted Dekker (born October 24, 1962) is an American author of Christian mystery, thriller, and fantasy novels including ''Thr3e'', '' Obsessed'', and the '' Circle Series''. Biography Dekker was born in Netherlands New Guinea shortly after i ...
, John Townsend, and Dave Stone. Thomas Nelson Inc. in 2000 began marketing the
Women of Faith Women of Faith is a global ministry (87 countries) Christian, providing digital media, resources and events to encourage and equip women to experience a deeper relationship with Jesus. It has staged non-denominational events across North Americ ...
conference, a concept devised by author Stephen Arterburn in 1995, after attending a church conference in Atlanta. As of 2013, the annual Women of Faith conference was attended by more than 400,000 women. In 2005, Thomas Nelson launched the Revolve teen conferences, built on the Women of Faith model. Michael S. Hyatt, a 25-year veteran of the publishing industry, became president and CEO of the company on 18 August 2005, succeeding Sam Moore who served as the company's CEO for nearly 47 years. In 2006, the private equity firm
InterMedia Partners InterMedia Advisors, LLC (a..k.a. InterMedia Partners), is a private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in the media sector. The firm, which was founded in 2005 by notable private equity investor L ...
and other investors agreed to buy Thomas Nelson for $473 million. The transaction closed on 12 June 2006. The company operated as a private company. In the same year, Nelson acquired Integrity Publishers from
Integrity Media Integrity Music is part of the David C Cook nonprofit group. Founded as a direct-to-consumer music club in 1987 as ''Integrity Music'', Integrity was at the forefront of contemporary worship music's widespread popularity of praise and worship ...
. In 2010, a group led by
Kohlberg & Company Kohlberg & Company is an American private equity firm that focuses on leveraged buyout transactions. Founded by investor Jerome Kohlberg, Jr., the firm invests in a variety of transactions including leveraged carveout, take-private transactions, ...
bought a majority share of the company. In 2011,
News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...
subsidiary
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
announced it had acquired Thomas Nelson. The acquisition closed in July 2012.


Canadian history

When Thomson sold Thomas Nelson UK, it kept the Canadian operations of the publisher as part of the company's education division. Thomson acquired
Irwin Irwin may refer to: Places ;United States * Irwin, California * Irwin, Idaho * Irwin, Illinois * Irwin, Iowa * Irwin, Nebraska * Irwin, Ohio * Irwin, Pennsylvania * Irwin, South Carolina * Irwin County, Georgia * Irwin Township, Venango County ...
in 2002. Thomson Education was spun off as
Cengage Learning Cengage Group is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world.(Jun 27, 2014Global Publishing Leaders ...
in the United States and Canada in 2007. The Nelson name lives on through the Canadian company Nelson Education Ltd., an educational publisher. In 2015, Nelson Education was handed over to debtholders, which included
Ares Management Ares Management Corporation is an American global alternative investment manager operating in the credit, private equity and real estate markets. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with additional of ...
, Citigroup,
Mudrick Capital Management Mudrick Capital Management is an investment firm specializing in special situations and event driven investing. The firm was founded by Jason Mudrick, its current Chief Investment Officer, in 2009.
and Sound Point Capital Management. In 2017, McGraw-Hill Education sold its K-12 education holds of McGraw-Hill Ryerson (formerly
Ryerson Press Ryerson Press was a Canadian book publishing company, active from 1919 to 1970.Janet B. Friskney"The Birth of The Ryerson Press Imprint" Historical Perspectives on Canadian Publishing. First established by the Methodist Book Room, a division of t ...
) to Nelson.


See also

*
Zondervan Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publ ...


References


Bibliography


Cumberland snaps up conservative-leaning series from Nelson
in ''
The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, ...
'', 2004-10-19
Private equity firm buying Thomas Nelson
in ''
Nashville Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...
'', 2006-02-21 * Dempster, John A. H., "Thomas Nelson and Sons in the Late Nineteenth Century: A Study in Motivation, Part One", in ''Publishing History'', 13, 1983, pp. 41–87; "Part Two" in ''Publishing History'', 14, 1983, pp. 5–63. * Moore, Sam, ''American By Choice: The Remarkable Fulfilment of an Immigrant’s Dreams'', Nashville: Nelson, 1998. * Tebbel, John, ''A History of Book Publishing in the United States'', New York and London: Bowker, four volumes, 1972–1981.


External links


www.thomasnelson.com
nbsp;— Thomas Nelson (USA)
www.westbowpress.com
nbsp;— WestBow Press (self-publishing services)
www.nelson.com
nbsp;— Nelson Education (Canada)
Thomas Nelson and Sons
 — SAPPHIRE (The Scottish Archive of Print & Publishing History Records)
Nelson's Collections
nbsp;— history of Nelson and its numerous book series {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas Nelson (Publisher) 1798 establishments in Scotland 1854 establishments in New York (state) Book publishing companies based in Tennessee Book publishing companies of Scotland Christian publishing companies Companies based in Edinburgh Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee Evangelical Christian publishing companies HarperCollins books History of Edinburgh Publishing companies established in 1798