Odhams Press was a British publishing firm. Originally a newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 group, founded in 1890, it took the name Odham's Press Ltd in 1920 when it merged with John Bull

John Bull (magazine)

John Bull Magazine was a weekly periodical established in the City, London EC4, by Theodore Hook in 1820.-Publication dates:It was a popular periodical that continued in production through 1824 and at least until 1957...

magazine. By 1937 it had founded the first colour weekly, Woman

Woman (UK magazine)

Woman is a mainstream weekly title for 30- and 40-something women. Edited by Karen Livermore, it encompasses a mix of celebrity gossip and TV news, real-life stories, and body-confident fashion and beauty tips...

, for which it set up and operated a dedicated high-speed print works. The company also owned Ideal Home

Ideal Home

Ideal Home is the title of a British home decorating magazine, published monthly by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary. Ideal Home is the best-selling homes magazine in the United Kingdom, and has a readership of over 1,005,000...

(founded 1920) and the well-known equestrian magazine Horse and Hound (acquired). Later Odhams expanded into book publishing (for example, publishing Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

's Painting as a Pastime, The Gunnis Dictionary of British Sculpture 1660-1851

Gunnis Dictionary of Sculpture in Britain

The original Gunnis Dictionary of British Sculpture 1660-1851 has been the standard reference work on British sculpture since it was first published in 1953 by Odhams Press. It was researched by Rupert Forbes Gunnis , a civil servant in the British colonial Government of Cyprus, and later curator...

, and an edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

).

Odhams' proprietorship

According to Susan M Penn's history of Long Street at Sherborne in Dorset, as verified by Harrop's historical house survey and by local census information, the house known from 1920 as Ramadia House, but with no name until that date, was occupied in 1834 by one John Odhams. He had married his wife, Fanny, on 16th May 1813, and they had three sons and a daughter. The eldest son, William, grew up to be a compositor, possibly serving his apprenticeship with Langdon and Harker at the Sherborne Mercury Printing Office in Long Street, according to his great grand-daughter; but there is no evidence to support this. However, at the rear of Ramadia House, known as Mistletoe Cottage since 1968, is a substantial brick built shed. The flat flooring of this shed is also very solid, completed with thick oak planking, well able to support and withstand heavy items of machinery such as a printing press. Earthworks next to the shed in or around 2002 revealed evidence of many coloured printing inks still visible in the soil.

In 1834 William Odhams left for London, where initially he worked for the Morning Post. In 1847 he went into partnership with William Biggar in Beaufort Buildings, Savoy, London; and in the 1870s he started the business known as 'William Odhams.' This he sold to his two sons, John Lynch Odhams and William James Baird Odhams, in 1892. Odhams Limited, created in 1898, in turn became Odhams Press in 1920. In 1954, Odhams Press Hall was built, designed by Yates, Cook and Derbyshire, and this was later listed on account of the innovative clock tower which houses a water tank for use in printing.

Takeovers

In 1960 Cecil Harmsworth King, chairman of the Daily Mirror newspaper, made an approach to Odhams on behalf of Fleetway Publications Ltd

Fleetway

Fleetway, also known as Fleetway Publications and Fleetway Editions, was a UK publishing company which mainly produced comic magazines. For a time owned by IPC Media, they are now a division of Egmont Publishing....

 (formerly the Amalgamated Press), which Odhams' Board found too attractive to refuse, and in 1961 Odhams was taken over by Fleetway. In 1963 its holdings were amalgamated with those of the George Newnes Company

George Newnes

Sir George Newnes, 1st Baronet was a publisher and editor in England.-Background and education:...

 and Fleetway, among others, to form the International Publishing Corporation

IPC Media

IPC Media , a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.- Origins :...

 (known as IPC).

Between 1964-68 it operated as a subsidiary of IPC, diversifying into boys' comics. During this period it was publishing a range of titles known as the Power Comics

Power Comics

Power Comics was an imprint of the British comics publisher Odhams Press that was particularly notable for its use of material reprinted from American Marvel Comics. Appearing chiefly during the years 1967 and 1968, the Power Comics line consisted of five weekly titles: Wham!, Smash!, Pow!,...

, which included Wham!

Wham! (comic)

Wham! was a weekly British comic published by Odhams Press. It ran for 187 issues from 20 June 1964 to 13 January 1968, when it merged into its sister title Pow!...

, Pow!

Pow!

Pow! was a weekly British comic published by Odhams Press in 1967 and 1968 from their headquarters at 64 Long Acre, London. Part of their Power Comics imprint, it was printed on newsprint stock, in black-and-white except for its colour front and back covers, and initially comprised 28 pages.Pow!...

 and Smash!.

Close of business

In 1968 Odhams encountered financial problems, partly due to unfavourable economic conditions in Britain. As a result of this, and in consequence of IPC's existing intention to rationalise its titles in order to eliminate duplication, during 1968 all the comics titles published by the Odhams Press imprint were closed or publication was transferred to IPC Magazines Ltd, another IPC subsidiary. This contained the losses on the Power Comics range within Odhams, which was a limited company with separate liability, but in consequence Odhams became financially unviable. On 1 January 1969 it effectively ceased to exist as a publishing business, when publication of its last surviving comics title, Smash!, was transferred to IPC Magazines Ltd.

Sources

• Howard Cox and Simon Mowatt. "Technology and Industrial Change: The Shift from Production to Knowledge-Based Business in the Magazine Print Publishing Industry" (Research Papers in International Business no. 27). Paper presented to the 2001 Association of Business Historians Conference, 2001. Available online.
• The IPC Media website