Bodley Head (publishers : active 1957-1987)

Founded as John Lane The Bodley Head and then taken over by Allen and Unwin, from whom Max Reinhardt bought it in 1957, when it was renamed The Bodley Head. At the same time Reinhardt acquired the firm of T Werner Laurie and incorporated it into The Bodley Head. While retaining its own imprint the firm joined the consortium of Chatto, Bodley Head and Jonathan Cape Ltd in 1973, which became Chatto, Virago, Bodley Head and Jonathan Cape Ltd between 1982 and 1987. The whole group was bought by Random House in 1987, at which point Reinhardt left to found his new company Reinhardt Books. Random House continued to use the Bodley Head imprint until 1990, and revived it in 2008.