Any Thames Valley company associated with the words black and books must be onto a winner, seeing as it’s the name of one of the greatest comedies of all time. And it also happens to be set in a book shop.
But for one week only, when Selective Recruitment thinks Black and Books, we’re not imagining red wine bottle lollipops or jam dispensers in the bath. We are in fact thinking of an amazing Thames Valley company that has changed the world of books, education and literature forever, for the better.
Why yes, we are of course talking about Blackwell’s Bookshops.
Opening its first shop in Oxford in 1846 and its iconic Broad Street store in 1879, the company has done what all century-spanning businesses must do to survive and grow: it’s innovated.
To this end, the first Blackwell publication, Mensæ Secundæ: verses written in Balliol College by H.C. Beeching, was printed in 1897.
Indeed, Blackwell’s publishing began the careers of many writers such as J. R. R. Tolkien, whose first poem Goblin’s Feet was published in 1915.
Blackwell’s didn’t just want the upper and middle classes to read books though. To promote universal access to literature, Blackwell’s pioneered a series of cheaper books, from a one-volume Shakespeare to 3-and-6 novels.
In 1966, the Norrington Room was opened, boasting three miles of shelving and at 10,000 square feet merited an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest single room selling books in the world. And in 1995, Blackwell’s became the first bookshop in the UK to allow its customers to purchase online from a catalogue of over 150,000 titles.
So move over Amazon, Blackwell’s got there first!
Blackwell’s also rescued the Shakespeare Head Press, then commissioned well-known classics such as the Pilgrim’s Progress, the works of the Brontës and a complete version of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
It was also announced in 2009 that wealth shares would be distributed between staff, transforming the company into an employee-partnership, similar to that of retailer John Lewis.
In 2012 Blackwell’s was – with Foyles, John Lewis department stores, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Argos – among the retailers to launch the Nook e-reader, the Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablet computers.
Today, Blackwell’s employs over 500 people and maintains over 60 retail outlets across the UK, with flagship stores located in Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and London. Other branches are located on university campuses or are specialist branches, focusing on Music and Art, and even a shop in Aberdeen specialising in the oil industry.
So from everyone here at Selective Recruitment to everyone at Blackwell’s: we salute you!
