Staples Press Ltd was incorporated as a limited liability company in 1958 with registered offices at 50 Margaret Street, London, England and later Portland Street, London, and a share capital of å£100. The first directors of the company were Howard Samuel and Reginald Gerard Davis-Poynter. Samuel was also a director of The Hour Press Ltd , publishers, London, whose board Davis-Poynter joined in 1961 and both were founding directors of Arco Publications Ltd who shared offices with the Staples.
Upon Samuel's death in 1961, Basil Grey Lichfield was appointed as a director of Staples Press Ltd. He was also a director of MacGibbon & Kee Ltd , publishers, London, who appear to have acquired Staples Press in 1962 . The company does not appear to have traded in its first few years of business but by the late 1960s appears to have been involved in producing translations of some English fiction books for export to India. MacGibbon & Kee Ltd were acquired by the Granada Group Ltd , media group, London, along with Staples Press Ltd.
In 1972 , Staples Press merged with Crosby Lockwood & Son Ltd, London, publishers of scientific and technical books, to form Crosby Lockwood Ltd . This company was then transferred to become a subsidiary of Granada Publishing Ltd , London, a subsidiary of the Granada Group Ltd. In 1983 , the Granada Group sold Granada Publishing Ltd and its subsidiaries to the Scottish publishers, William Collins, Sons & Co Ltd , based in Glasgow by which point the company was known as Crosby Lockwood Staples Ltd . This company became William Collins G(VII) Ltd in 1987 before being dissolved finally in 1993 .
From the guide to the Records of Staples Press Ltd, publishers, London, England, 1958-1976, (Glasgow University Archives Service)
