A & C Blackis a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing.

The firm was founded in 1807 by Adam Black in Edinburgh, and moved to theSohodistrict of London in 1889. In 1851, the firm bought the copyright of Sir Walter Scott’sWaverleynovels for £27,000.

During the years 1827–1903 the firm published the 7th, 8th and 9th editions of theEncyclopædia Britannica.

Beginning in 1839, the firm published a series of travel guides known asBlack’s Guides.

The company was the publisher of the annualWho’s Who(since 1849) and also, since 2002, theWhitaker’s Almanack. Other notable works includeBlack’s Medical Dictionaryand theKnow The Gameseries of sports rules and laws reference books.^[1]

The firm also published theA. & C. Black Colour Books: Twenty Shilling Series(1901-21),^[2]a “range of high-quality colour collectable picture books”^[3]which are still collected by bibliophiles.^[4]

In 1902 they published P. G. Wodehouse’s first book,The Pothunters, and went on to produce many of his early works.

In 1989 A & C Black purchased both Christopher Helm Publishers and later the Pica Press, publishers of the Helm Identification Guides, from Christopher Helm.^[5]

In 2000 A & C Black was purchased by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, which continued producing the former’s range of reference works.

In June 2002, T. & A. D. Poyser and their back-list of around 70 ornithology titles were acquired from Elsevier Science.

A & C Black purchased Methuen Drama from Methuen Publishing in 2006, and acquired Arden Shakespeare from Cengage Learning in 2008.

In 2016, A & C Black Music list moved to Collins Learning, a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.