McClelland and Stewart
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McClelland and Stewart is a Canadian publishing company.
It was founded in 1906 as McClelland and Goodchild by John McClelland and Frederick Goodchild, both originally employed with the Methodist Book Room which was later to become the Ryerson Press. At first, the company only sold books from publishers outside the country. In 1910, it published its first Canadian book, Kilmeny of the Orchard, by L.M. Montgomery. In 1911, George Stewart, also from the Methodist Book Room, joined the company. When Goodchild left to form his own company, the company's name was changed to McClelland and Stewart Limited.
The company slowly expanded its list of Canadian authors to include writers such as Bliss Carman, Duncan Campbell Scott and Stephen Leacock. When Jack McClelland joined the company in 1946, the company started moving away from distribution of books published outside the country. By 1962, most of the company's activities were associated with Canadian publishing, including books by Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Peter Gzowski, Margaret Laurence, Farley Mowat and Michael Ondaatje.
At times, the company's financial future has been uncertain. In 1986, the company was bought from McClelland by Avie Bennett. In 2000, Random House of Canada bought a 25% share in the company. The other 75% was donated to the University of Toronto.