Swan Sonnenschein & Company Archive

SSC

1878-1916

William Swan Sonnenschein founded his own firm in 1878 with J. Archibald Allen, under the name of W. Swan Sonnenschein & Allen. Allen was the first of many partners in the firm, and in 1882 the name was restyled to W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co after the partnership was dissolved. The company specialised in publishing scholarly works that specialised in philosophy and the social sciences, including the renowned book series The Library of Philosophy (1890-1911). It was also notable for publishing some of the first English translations of both Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, as well as periodicals and literature by authors such as J. M. Barrie, Henry James, George Meredith and George Moore. William himself was connected to a number of socialists and activists, publishing works from George Bernard Shaw and Edward Carpenter, along with literature from the Ethical Society, of which he was a member. Swan Sonnenschein became a limited liability company in 1895, with William leaving the firm in 1902 to work as senior managing director at George Routledge & Sons. He would later take up a further directorial position at Kegan Paul. Eventually Swan Sonnenschein became amalgamated with fellow publishing company George Allen & Co. in 1911, with the now-merged firm rebranding again as George Allen & Unwin Ltd by 1914.

The collection contains letterbooks 1878-1911 (MS 3280), together with some incoming correspondence 1882-1916 (MS 4058). Minute books of Directors' meetings 1895-1913 are held in the Allen & Unwin Ledgers series numbers AU A/258-262, account books 1884-1903 are held in the Allen & Unwin Ledger series numbers AU A/269-270), articles of association 1895, and balance sheets 1902-1910.

51 volumes

fonds

An index to the letterbooks was compiled when they were microfilmed by Chadwyck-Healey and the publication can be found in the Reference Collection of the Reading Room at MERL/Special Collections, [Reference 070.50942 SWA/IND]

AU A