Arco Publications Ltd was incorporated as a limited liability company in 1959 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 Staples Press Ltd who shared offices with the Arco.
Upon Samuel's death in 1961, Basil Grey Lichfield was appointed as a director of Arco Publications Ltd. He was also a director of MacGibbon & Kee Ltd , publishers, London, who appear to have acquired Arco Publications Ltd in 1962 . By 1964, Arco had still not traded. MacGibbon & Kee Ltd were acquired by the Granada Group Ltd , media group, London, in 1968 along with Arco Publications Ltd, becoming a subsidiary of Granada's subsidiary publishing firm, Granada Publishing Ltd . In 1972 , Granada reorganised its publishing subsidiaries and Arco Publications Ltd became Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Ltd which acquired the business of the London publishing firms of Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd , London, and MacGibbon & Kee Ltd although these two companies remained companies in their own right.
In 1983 , the Granada Group sold Granada Publishing Ltd and its subsidiaries to the Scottish publishers, William Collins, Sons & Co Ltd , based in Glasgow and it appears that Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Ltd was dissolved around this time.
From the guide to the Records of Arco Publications Ltd, publishers, London, England, 1959-1972, (Glasgow University Archives Service)
