Odhams Press

January 1935.

89 Long Acre, London, WC2. (1922). 24 Henrietta Street, Strand, London, WC2. Telephone: Temple Bar 2468. Cables: "Southernwood, London". [Book Department, Overseas Division]. (1947)

1890s Odhams Press was a British publishing firm which originated as a newspaper group.

1920 It took the name Odhams Press Ltd, when it merged with John Bull magazine.

1922 Listed Exhibitor. General Publishers of Sport, Fiction and General Literature; also Fine Art Picture Producers. (Stand No. F.33)

1935 Incorporation of Odhams (Watford) Ltd as book and magazine publishers with colour printing presses at a new factory in Watford

By 1937, it had founded the first colour weekly, Woman. At the time Odhams Press was one of the largest customers of Sun Printing of Watford. Lord Southwood of Odhams decided that his firm needed its own dedicated high-speed print works for the new weekly. He made an offer to Sun’s owners to buy their company, which was declined. Odhams than set up its own gravure printing operation in North Watford - Odhams (Watford) Ltd.

The company also owned Ideal Home (founded 1920), and the well-known equestrian magazine Horse and Hound (acquired).

Later, Odhams expanded into book publishing (for example, Winston Churchill's Painting as a Pastime, and an edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare) and comics, including Wham! and Smash!

1947 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. Publishers of Illustrated Books on everyday Science, Nature, Handicrafts, Hobbies, simplified Medical and Reference Works, Juveniles, Technical and Vocational Books, Odhams Dictionary of the English Language, the New Educational Library, etc. (Olympia, 1st Floor, Stand No. H.2163)

1959 Acquired George Newnes Ltd

In the early 1960s, it was acquired by the Mirror Group Newspapers, along with the George Newnes Co and Amalgamated Press; the three companies were merged to form International Publishing Corporation (IPC).

See Also

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• [1] Wikipedia