Archives of Jonathan Cape Ltd

Jonathan Cape established his publishing company in 1921. The firm published both mainstream and more experimental literature, including a number of classic works and best-sellers, and was taken over by Random House in 1987.

The collection includes book files 1960-1995 (including editorial, production and publicity correspondence etc.); author correspondence 1920s-1960; ledgers 1920s-1980s; rights correspondence; managing director's files 1960s-1980s.

Readers will need the written permission of Random House publishers before consulting material in this collection.

More information

• Records for book files are being added to Unicorn.  Around 1200 have been added so far, covering the period 1960 to 1972 (by summer 2008)
• Handlists for material from 1920 to 1960 are available at the Special Collections Service
• A full description is available from our online database
• Manuscript number MS 2446