Publisher

West Pub. Co

West Publishing Company is a St. Paul, Minnesota legal and textbook publisher founded by John B. West in the 1870s, creator of Westlaw, and owned by Thomson Reuters since 1996.

Editions tracked: 23
First editions: 23
Books: 23
Years: 1950 to 1997

Search all West Pub. Co editions

West Pub. Co is a publisher active from 1950. We track 23 editions it published between 1950 and 1997, 23 of them first editions across 23 books. Each book lists its first edition and the points that identify it.

About West Pub. Co

West Publishing Company (West Pub. Co.) is an American legal publisher founded in St. Paul, Minnesota, by John B. West, who started his law-book business there in 1872; it created the National Reporter System and Westlaw and has been owned by Thomson (now Thomson Reuters) since 1996.

John West (1852 to 1922) arrived in St. Paul in 1869. In 1876 the firm began publishing Minnesota Supreme Court opinions as The Syllabi, which grew into the North Western Reporter and then a regional reporter system that covered the whole country by 1887. His brother Horatio joined as a partner in 1876 and the business was incorporated as West Publishing Company in 1882. West also built the American Digest System, with its headnotes and key numbers, and in 1975 launched the computer research service Westlaw. It published law school textbooks and treatises alongside legal forms and court reports.

The company stayed in downtown St. Paul until 1992, when it moved to Eagan. In February 1996 the Canadian Thomson Corporation bought West for $3.43 billion, and it traded as West Group from 1997 to 2004. In 2013 West sold its academic publishing arm, including Foundation Press, to Eureka Growth Capital. West continues within the legal division of Thomson Reuters.

We have not yet written the guide to West Pub. Co's first-edition conventions. Until we do, check each book's own page: we list its points where we know them. Know how West Pub. Co marked its firsts? Tell us.