Thames and Hudson

About Thames and Hudson

Thames & Hudson is an independent, family-owned London publisher of illustrated books on art, architecture, design and archaeology, founded in 1949 by Walter Neurath and Eva Feuchtwang (later Eva Neurath).

Walter Neurath had published illustrated books in Vienna before fleeing to England in 1938, where he was production director at the book packager Adprint. At his own firm he used the co-edition model: a book was designed and produced in one place, then sold to publishers in other countries and languages to spread the cost. He launched his own firm in September 1949 with capital of about £7,000. The name pairs the rivers of London and New York to signal a list aimed at both sides of the Atlantic, and the original logo showed two dolphins facing east and west.

The first list appeared in 1950. The firm moved to Bloomsbury Street in 1956 and to High Holborn in 1999. Its long-running series include World of Art, which began with three titles in 1958, among them a Picasso by Frank Elgar and Robert Maillard, Ancient Peoples and Places, edited by Glyn Daniel, and Great Civilizations. Notable titles include Robert Hughes's The Shock of the New (1980), Subway Art (1984), which the firm describes as the first book on street art, and a six-volume edition of Van Gogh's letters (2009) with the Van Gogh Museum.

After Walter's death in 1967, Eva became chairman and their son Thomas Neurath managing director; the family still owns the business. Thames & Hudson Australia was set up in 1968, the New York company was relaunched in 1977 with distribution through W. W. Norton, and a Paris house followed in 1989. It also has subsidiaries in Singapore and Hong Kong.