Thomas Nelson
Thomas Nelson began as an Edinburgh bookshop opened in 1798; the British firm passed to Thomson in 1962, while its US branch became a Nashville Christian publisher owned by HarperCollins since 2012.
- Editions tracked
- 30
- First editions
- 21
- Books
- 30
- Years
- 1813 to 2010
About Thomas Nelson
Thomas Nelson is a publisher that began as a second-hand bookshop opened by Thomas Nelson in Edinburgh's West Bow in 1798; its American offshoot, now based in Nashville, is a Christian publisher owned by HarperCollins.
Nelson (born Neilson, 1780 to 1861) changed the spelling of his name because customers found Nelson easier, and moved from bookselling into publishing cheap editions of standard authors and religious works. In 1845 to 1846 the firm moved to larger, purpose-built premises at Hope Park. His son William joined in 1835 and Thomas junior in 1839, when the business became Thomas Nelson and Sons, and a US branch followed in 1854. After a fire wrecked the Hope Park works in 1878, the firm moved to new premises at Parkside. The novelist John Buchan worked for Nelson as a literary adviser until 1929.
The family kept control until 1962, when the Thomson Organisation took over the British company. In 2000 Wolters Kluwer bought it and merged it with Stanley Thornes to form the educational publisher Nelson Thornes. Most of the firm's archive went to Edinburgh University Library in 1969.
The American company was bought in 1969 by Sam Moore's Royal Publishers, which kept the Nelson name and moved to Nashville in the 1970s. It bought the Word brand in 1992, was sold to InterMedia Partners in 2006, and became part of HarperCollins in July 2012.
We have not yet written the guide to Thomas Nelson's first-edition conventions. Until we do, check each book's own page: we list its points where we know them. Know how Thomas Nelson marked its firsts? Tell us.
Authors
Series
Published by Thomas Nelson
Frequently asked questions
How many Thomas Nelson books does MyVolumes track?
We track 30 editions published by Thomas Nelson, 21 of them first editions, across 30 books.
Where these facts come from
- Thomas Nelson (publisher), Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Records of Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd, University of Edinburgh Archives (archives.collections.ed.ac.uk)
- Thomas Nelson (1780-1861), Grange Association (grangeassociation.org)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 18 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.