Status Owned by Random House Founded 1917 Successor Chatto & Windus Acquisition date 1946 | Publication types Books Headquarters location London, United Kingdom Country of origin United Kingdom | |
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Founders Virginia Woolf, Leonard Woolf | ||
The Hogarth Press was a British publishing house founded in 1917 by Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond, in which they began hand-printing books.
Contents
During the interwar period, the Hogarth Press grew from a hobby of the Woolfs to a business when they began using commercial printers. In 1938 Virginia Woolf relinquished her interest in the business and it was then run as a partnership by Leonard Woolf and John Lehmann until 1946, when it became an associate company of Chatto & Windus. "Hogarth" is now an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group, part of Random House Inc.
As well as publishing the works of the members of the Bloomsbury group, the Hogarth Press was at the forefront of publishing works on psychoanalysis and translations of foreign, especially Russian, works.
History
Printing was a hobby for the Woolfs, and it provided a diversion for Virginia when writing became too stressful. The couple bought a handpress in 1917 for £19 (equivalent to about £900 in 2012) and taught themselves how to use it. The press was set up in the dining room of Hogarth House, where the Woolfs lived, lending its name to the publishing company they founded. In July they published their first text, a book with one story written by Leonard and the other written by Virginia.
Between 1917 and 1946 the Press published 527 titles.