Wells Gardner, Darton and Company

Wells Gardner, Darton and Company was a British publishing company based in London. The company was founded by William Wells Gardner (1821–1880) in 1859 to produce mainly ecclesiastical texts; it later brought on as a partner Joseph William Darton (1844–1916), and branched out into magazines and children's literature. (Darton already had a publishing house founded by his ancestor William Darton in the 1780s which specialized in juvenile literature.)

Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. published books until the 1950s. Authors of children's books published by Gardner, Darton included Alice Corkran, F. J. Harvey Darton, Mrs. E. M. Field, John Masefield, Robert Hope Moncrieff, E. Nesbit, William Rainey, Francesca Maria Steele, and Enys Tregarthen. Authors of ecclesiastical texts included Herbert Bury, G. K. Chesterton, Joseph Clayton, Percy Dearmer, Hensley Henson, Alan George Sumner Gibson, Henry Twells, and James Charles Wall. Other authors published by the firm included Jill Allgood, E. Davenport Cleland, S. R. Crockett, Oliver Goldsmith, Katherine Purdon, and William Henry Macleod Read.

Co-founder Joseph William Darton's son F. J. Harvey Darton (1878–1936) joined the family firm in c. 1900, becoming a director in 1904. Darton edited the company's Chatterbox magazine from 1901 to 1931, as well as the company's The Prize magazine. Darton was behind the firm's publication of John Masefield's Martin Hyde in 1906; Masefield also contributed to Chatterbox. At the time, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. published many compilations of older stories, including reissues of the chapbook The Seven Champions of Christendom (1901) and compilations of stories from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Chatterbox was published from 1901 to 1931, and The Prize magazine from 1910 to 1933. Harry Rountree illustrated for The Prize; The Brocks of Cambridge provided illustrations for both periodicals.

The firm was sold in 1928, with F. J. Dalton leaving the company shortly afterward. Illustrator Denis McLoughlin painted book covers for Gardner, Darton during World War II. In the 1950s, the company expanded its nonfiction list.

A later iteration of the company published comics in the period 1960–c. 1985, in partnership with Micron. Titles included Combat Picture Library, Conflict Libraries, Pop Pic Library, and Romantic Adventure Library.

Magazines published (selected)

 * (1880). Rochester Diocesan Directory
 * Allgood, Jill (1951). Timothy Telescope, Cactus the Camel & Valerie Hobson in Ship Ahoy!
 * Birley, Caroline (1879). We are Seven: A Tale for Children.
 * Blake, William (1899). Songs of Innocence — miniature edition, illustrated by Celia Levetus
 * Blunt, William O. (1884). A Thousand Years of The Church in Chester-Le-Street.
 * Boodle, Richard George (1881). The Life and Labours of the Right Rev. William Tyrrell, D.D. first bishop of Newcastle, New South Wales.
 * Bury, Herbert (1911). Bishop amongst Bananas
 * Callaway, Godfrey (1912). A Shepherd of the Veld: Bransby Lewis Key, Bishop of St. John's, Kaffraria
 * Chesterton, G. K. (1909). The Ball and the Cross
 * Clayton, Joseph (1902). Father Dolling: A Memoir.
 * Cleland, E. Davenport (Elphinstone Davenport) (1891), The white kangaroo : a tale of colonial life, founded on fact
 * Cobb, James Francis (adp. from Hendrik Conscience) (1887). Off to California : a tale of the gold country (illustrated by Amédée Forestier)
 * Corkran, Alice (1908). The National Gallery
 * Crockett, S. R.:
 * (1896). Sweetheart Travellers
 * (1897). The Surprising Adventures of Sir Toady Lion
 * (1905). Sir Toady Crusoe
 * Daniel, Evan (1901). The Prayer-Book: its history, language and contents.
 * Darton, F. J. Harvey, ed (1910). The Life and Times of Mrs. Sherwood from the Diaries of Captain and Mrs. Sherwood.
 * Dearmer, Percy (1900). The Little Lives of the Saints
 * Evans, Rev. B. Edward, MA, Rector (1924). The Story of Milton Malzor
 * Field, Mrs. E. M. (1892). The child and his book. Some account of the history and progress of children's literature in England
 * Foerster, F. W. (1911) Marriage and the Sex-problem, Translated by Meyrick Booth.
 * Goldsmith, Oliver. (1904). – Letters From A Citizen of The World To His Friend In The East (illustrated by E. J. Sullivan)
 * Heanley, Rev. R. M. (1887). Central Africa: Universities' Mission to Central Africa
 * Henson, Hensley (1899). Ad Rem: Thoughts for Critical Times in the Church
 * Johnson, Theodore (1887). The Parish Guide: a handbook for the use of the clergy and lay-helpers
 * Gibson, Alan George Sumner (1891). Eight Years in Kaffraria, 1882–1890.
 * G. F. Maclear, S. (1888). Augustine's, Canterbury: Its Rise, Ruin, and Restoration
 * Macleod, Donald Alexander (1906), A Book of Ballad Stories
 * Masefield, John (1910). Martin Hyde: The Duke's Messenger.
 * Moncrieff, Robert Hope (1909). Seeing the world: the adventures of a young mountaineer (illustrated by Gordon Browne)
 * Money, Agnes Louisa
 * (1911). History of The Girls' Friendly Society
 * (1913). The Story of the Girls' Friendly Society
 * Nesbit, Edith (1906). The Railway Children
 * Purdon, Katherine (1902). The laundry at home
 * Rainey, William:
 * (1900). Abdulla: The Mystery of an Ancient Papyrus
 * (1937). The Lost "Reynolds"
 * (1938). Who's on my side: A tale for boys
 * (1938). Admiral Rodney's Bantam Cock: A Story for boys
 * Read, William Henry Macleod (1901). Play and Politics: Recollections of Malaya
 * Robins, Margaret W. (1939). Mother Cecile of Grahamstown, South Africa: A Record of a Great Educational Work
 * Russell, G.W.E. (1911). One Look Back.
 * Steele, Francisca Maria (1892). The little doctor: or, The magic of nature (illustrated by Alexander Monro)
 * Tregarthen, Enys (1906). North Cornwall Fairies and Legends
 * Twells, Henry:
 * (1901). Hymns and Other Stray Verses
 * (1901) Sermons on Hymns, and Other Addresses
 * (1905) Bible Characters, and Other Addresses
 * Wall, J. Charles (1912), Porches & Fonts.