BUTTERWORTH AND COMPANY (PUBLISHERS) LIMITED

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 CLC/B/034
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: BUTTERWORTH AND COMPANY (PUBLISHERS) LIMITED
Date(s)	: 1801-1991
Level of description	: Collection View subfonds/series records
Extent	: 407 production units.
Name of creator(s)	: Butterworth and Co (Publishers) Ltd

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Butterworth and Company (Publishers) of 7 Fleet street 1818-99, 12 Bell Yard 1899-1912, 4-6 Bell Yard 1912-53, 88 Kingsway 1955-94, Borough Green, Kent 1973-95, and Halbury House, 35 Chancery Lane 1994-.

The business was founded in 1818 by Henry Butterworth who sold both his own publications and many other law books. The firm was first known as Henry Butterworth, law bookseller and publisher; but from the 1850s was variously known as Messrs Butterworth, Messrs Butterworth and Co and Messrs Butterworth and Son though it appears in London directories from 1853 as Henry Butterworth and Co. On the death of Joshua Whitehead Butterworth (Henry's son) in 1895, the firm was bought by Shaw and Sons, law printers and publishers. The new business was known as Butterworth and Co and owned by Charles Bond, soon succeeded by his son Stanley Shaw Bond. The company has been known colloquially (in the twentieth century at least) as Butterworths.

Limited companies were set up from 1910 onwards to trade in the empire and dominions but the principal UK firm was not set up as a limited company until 1927 when Stanley Shaw Bond changed the name of Butterworth and Co. (Canada) to Butterworth and Company (Publishers) and increased the authorised capital to £250,000. Butterworths remained a group of separate companies with Bond as the sole shareholder of each company until his death in 1943. The company structure was then rationalised with the smaller companies becoming subsidiaries of Butterworth & Company (Publishers). In 1947 Butterworths became a public company and in 1967 it was bought by IPC.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Butterworth and Company (Publishers) Limited, including papers of predecessors, subsidiaries and associated companies as follows:
- Butterworth and Co. (Canada);
- Butterworth and Co. (Australia);
- Butterworth and Co. (New Zealand);
- Butterworth and Co. (India);
- Butterworth and Co. (Overseas);
- Butterworth and Co. (South Africa)(Pty);
- Butterworths Scientific Publications;
- Butterworths Technical Books;
- Charles Bond Ltd;
- Chemindex Ltd;
- Clowes (Wm) and Sons;
- Coke Press;
- R J Acford Ltd;
- Research and Development Ltd;
- Shaw and Sons;
- Butterworth, Inc;
- Justice of the Peace, Ltd.

All records are on 24 hour call. Access to records post 1965 should be sought from the depositor (contact details available from staff).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

CLC/B/034-01: Butterworth and Co. (Publishers);
CLC/B/034-03: Butterworth and Co. (Australia);
CLC/B/034-04: Butterworth and Co. (New Zealand);
CLC/B/034-05 Butterworth and Co. (India);
CLC/B/034-06: Butterworth and Co. (Overseas);
CLC/B/034-07: Butterworth and Co. (South Africa)(Pty);
CLC/B/034-08: Butterworth's Scientific Publications;
CLC/B/034-09: Butterworth's Technical Books;
CLC/B/034-10: Charles Bond Ltd;
CLC/B/034-11: Chemindex Ltd;
CLC/B/034-12: William Clowes and Sons;
CLC/B/034-13: Coke Press;
CLC/B/034-14: R J Acford Ltd;
CLC/B/034-15: Research and Development Ltd;
CLC/B/034-16: Shaw and Sons Ltd;
CLC/B/034-17: Butterworth, Inc;
CLC/B/034-18 Justice of the Peace, Ltd.

Conditions governing access:

Access by appointment only. Please contact staff.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The records were deposited in Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section in 1991-2 and 2003. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

Allied Materials

Related material:

See also Butterworth Family (CLC/431).

Publication note:

For further details of the company and the books published see Butterworths, History of a Publishing House (1980) (Guildhall Library reference SL07.1) by H. Kay Jones. A second edition was published in 1997 by Gorden Graham.

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
November 2010 to January 2011.