bookselling wholesale founded 1879 founder benjamin henry blackwell headquarters oxford england uk number of locations 45 stores 2012 1 area served uk key people toby blackwell owner trevor goul wheeker chairman products books maps revenue 54.2 million 2014 2 operating income 600 000 2014 2 number of employees 1 000 3 4 website www.blackwells.co.uk blackwell uk also known as blackwell s and blackwell group is a british academic book retailer and library supply service originally founded in 1879 by benjamin henry blackwell 5 after whom the chain is named . founded in oxford on broad street the firm now has a chain of 45 shops as well as an accounts and library supply service and employs around 1000 staff across all divisions . 3 4 the broad street branches which include speciality music and art poster shops remained the only ones until expansion in the early 1990s when at peak after taking over heffers in cambridge in 1999 6 and james thin in scotland in 2002 7 the company had over 70 outlets . 7 its library supply chain serves an international market but parts were sold off in 2009 with the north american arm of blackwell book services and the australian business james bennett sold to baker & taylor for their academic arm ybp library services . 8 the group were also publishers under the blackwell publishing imprint which published over 800 journals when it was sold to john wiley & sons in 2007 for 572 million to form wiley blackwell . 9 the blackwell family have run the company since its foundation with an ownership divided between voting shares owned by the family and wealth shares owned by family and others . 10 however there was a public dispute in 2002 between julian toby blackwell the current owner of the group and nigel blackwell the former chairman of the publishing arm about the possible sale of the publishing business . this led to an offer of 300 million from taylor & francis 11 and to an eventual deal with john wiley & son in 2006 as a result of which nigel blackwell and toby s son philip blackwell left the business 12 leaving toby blackwell the sole family member still involved in running the company . other family voting shares are held by a trust which toby s shares will transfer to when he dies eventually bringing an end to the blackwell family involvement with the company . 13 toby blackwell announced in 2009 that the wealth shares would be distributed between staff transforming the company into an employee partnership similar to that of retailer john lewis when the company returns to profitability having spent several years experiencing losses . 10 14 the company reported it was expecting to return to profit in 2012 . 10 on 29 october 2012 15 blackwell s was with foyles john lewis department stores waitrose sainsbury s and argos among the retailers to launch the nook e reader and from november the nook hd and nook hd tablet computers . 16 contents 1 history 1.1 recent history 2 locations 2.1 gallery 3 references 4 external links history edit blackwell s sign outside the charing cross road branch the company was founded in 1879 by benjamin henry blackwell son of the first city librarian who having finished his education at 13 was apprenticed to a local bookseller for a shilling a week . his father benjamin harris blackwell had been heavily involved in the temperance society . the society promoted as well as religion self education and also encouraged reading . the society provided separate rooms for non alcoholic refreshment and silent reading . a religious family the blackwells had also become involved with the temperance society due to benjamin s father being teetotal and as a protest against the government making money from the excise duty on alcohol . 5 the flagship shop at no. 50 broad street oxford was originally only twelve feet square but quickly grew to incorporate the upstairs cellar and neighbouring shops . benjamin henry blackwell was well respected in oxford and was elected the first liberal councillor for oxford north . basil blackwell benjamin henry s son became the first blackwell to go to university ; he was awarded a scholarship at oxford university s merton college . he was expected to join the family firm however which he did in 1913 after a spell as an apprentice publisher in london . he was tasked with expanding his father s publishing business . the norrington room contains more than 160 000 books on 3 miles of shelving the first blackwell publication mens secund verses written in balliol college by h.c. beeching was printed in 1897 . blackwell s began the careers of many writers j. r. r. tolkien s first poem goblin s feet was published in 1915 . 5 to promote universal access to literature blackwell s pioneered a series of cheaper books from a one volume shakespeare to 3 and 6 novels . the publishing company was merged into the main company in 1921 and a scientific section was added in 1939 . when benjamin henry died in 1924 basil blackwell took over from his father and was the firm s gaffer for over sixty years . basil blackwell also wanted to preserve fine printing . after rescuing the shakespeare head press he commissioned belles lettres including well known classics such as the pilgrim s progress the works of the bront s and a complete version of chaucer s canterbury tales . a view of the art & poster shop in oxford in 1966 the norrington room was opened named after sir arthur norrington the president of trinity college and extending under part of trinity college . it boasts three miles 5 km of shelving and at 10 000 square feet 930 m2 merited an entry in the guinness book of records as the largest single room selling books . 17 recent history edit the company has followed a determined policy since the 1990s to spread out from its traditional oxford base and take on a much broader uk presence . 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 and opened a flagship shop in london the same year at 100 charing cross road which is now one of the company s six most prominent shops . 5 blackwell s took over the heffers bookshops in cambridge in 1999 and in 2002 acquired the academic bookshops of james thin in scotland . blackwell s now has over 60 retail outlets across the uk including a number of medical and other specialist bookshops and even a shop in aberdeen specialising in the oil industry . 5 both the oxford and london flagship shops have won bookseller of the year at the british book awards . 5 the company is still in the hands of the blackwell family . support for its activities including blackwell s online is based at beaver house in oxford . 5 the company was to be partially funded by toby blackwell limited in 2012 . 18 locations edit blackwell s maintains over 40 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 . gallery edit flagship branch broad street oxford oxford branch as seen from the museum of the history of science south bridge edinburgh woodhouse lane leeds cambridge road university of portsmouth whiteknights university of reading portobello street university of sheffield heffers trinity street cambridge heffers sound trinity street cambridge blackwell s music broad street oxford blackwell s art and poster shop broad street oxford references edit our shops . blackwells online . retrieved 1 february 2012 . a b shaffi sarah 2 october 2014 . blackwell s returns to profit . the bookseller . retrieved 1 march 2015 . a b finch julia 8 september 2010 . blackwell book chain owner plans to hand firm over to staff . the guardian . retrieved 27 january 2012 . a b campbell lisa 10 may 2011 . blackwell cuts 19 from library supply business . the bookseller . retrieved 27 january 2012 . a b c d e f g 48 51 broad street oxford . broad street oxford . headington . retrieved 27 january 2012 . blackwell s rationalises heffers branches . allbusiness . 1999 . retrieved 1 february 2012 . a b cave andrew 20 april 2002 . blackwell wins thin in family feud lull . the telegraph . retrieved 1 february 2012 . neilan catherine 8 december 2009 . blackwell sells library supply arm . the bookseller . retrieved 1 february 2012 . osborne alistair 18 november 2006 . blackwell duo bury hatchet as publisher is sold to john wiley . the telegraph . retrieved 1 february 2012 . a b c denny neill 8 september 2010 . blackwell s to close head office as power shifts to staff . the bookseller . retrieved 2 february 2012 . bowers simon 23 january 2002 . blackwell s journal of disquiet . the guardian . retrieved 2 february 2012 . wallows harry 20 january 2006 . blackwell s starts fresh chapter . the telegraph . retrieved 2 february 2012 . denny neill 28 may 2009 . last king of blackwell s . the bookseller . retrieved 2 february 2012 . campbell lisa 31 march 2011 . blackwell group halves losses within a year . the bookseller . retrieved 27 january 2012 . last minute delay to uk nook launch lisa campbell the bookseller london.retrieved 8 december 2012 . barnes & noble s nook hd and hd tablets will come to uk in november ian steadman wired.co.uk 26 september 2012 . retrieved 8 december 2012 . the guinness book of records 14th ed . . london guinness superlatives limited . 1967 . p. 123 . isbn 0 900424 00 1 . campbell lisa 26 march 2012 . revenue drops but losses down at blackwell . the bookseller . retrieved 16 april 2012 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to blackwell uk . companies portal books portal blackwell online blackwell twitter photo and other information on oxfordcityguide.com v t e major bookstore and book superstore chains international book off dymocks booksellers books kinokuniya naiin tsutaya waterstones whsmith eslite bookstore nationwide country barnes & noble us blackwell uk books a million us dokya th eason irl gunung agung ind indigo books and music can kyobo book centre kr libro jp national book store ph polare be steimatzky il suomalainen kirjakauppa fin oxford bookstore in thalia de defunct borders group int l us based b. dalton us dillons uk ottakar s uk polare nl waldenbooks us see also list of bookstore chains including local entities retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title blackwell uk & oldid 715406013 categories retail companies established in 1879book publishing companies of the united kingdomshops in oxfordprivately held companies of the united kingdombookshops of the united kingdombook selling websitescompanies based in oxfordbritish brandsbook distributorshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameterscommons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main 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