COLUMBIA
LIBRARY
COLUMNS
 

Norton's Ingredients for Success

HOWARD P. WILSON

At the meeting of the Friends of the Columbia Libraries on February
7, 1^68, the papers of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., publishers,
were presented to the Columbia Libraries by Mr. George P. Brock-
way, President of the company. On that occasion, Paid Henry Lang
spoke on the personality and achievements of Mr. Norton.

We are pleased to bring to our members now a slightly shortened
version of a history of the company (i<)2}-i<)4}), which was written
by Howard P. Wilson, retired Executive Vice-President and Treas¬
urer of the publishing firm.                                          editor's note
 

MR, AND AIRS. W. WARDER NORTON mo\'ed
naturally in a social and cultural environment in which
the idea of starting a publishing house around the cen¬
tral theme of adult education would be sympathetically received.
Their friendships and contacts in the centers of learning provided
a favorable ground for the germination of book projects, and, as
time went on, many publications resulted from these sources.
Later, other individuals joined the firm as editorial assistants to
Warder; also, literary agents \\'ere consulted and many books came
from this source.

During a .six-week trip in Europe in the summer of 1925,
\A'arder met the heads of many of the British and Continental
publishing houses. As a result of discussions with them, he arranged