Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington

About Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington

Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington was the name used from the late 1870s by the London publishing firm of Sampson Low, whose list included Jules Verne, Henry Morton Stanley and R. D. Blackmore's Lorna Doone.

Low was born in London in 1797 and in 1819 opened a bookshop, stationery business and circulating library at 42 Lamb's Conduit Street. He managed The Publishers' Circular, the trade journal first issued on 2 October 1837, and it became wholly his in 1867. From it he compiled the British Catalogue (first volume 1853), later continued as the English Catalogue. From about 1844 he also acted as London literary agent for Fletcher Harper of New York.

In 1848 Low and his eldest son opened a publishing office at Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, trading as Sampson Low, Son & Co. The firm moved to Ludgate Hill in 1852, took Edward Marston into partnership in 1856, and moved to 188 Fleet Street in 1867. As Sampson Low, Son & Marston it issued Lorna Doone in 1869, in three volumes. The name changed to Sampson Low, Marston & Company in 1872, and the later partners Samuel Warren Searle and William John Rivington produced the longest form of the name. In 1887 the firm moved to St Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane. William Black was another of its authors.

Low retired in 1875 and died on 16 April 1886. The business survived into the 1960s, and Macdonald & Co. took it over when it stopped publishing.