Philip Wilson Publishers

Philip Wilson Logo In May 2011 Philip Wilson Publishers was acquired by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd.

For forty years Philip Wilson Publishers (PWP) has specialised in producing authoritative, finely designed art and illustrated books. Starting life as Sotheby’s Publications, the publishing arm of the famous auction house, it became independent in 1977 as PWP. With over seven hundred works to its credit, the company still concentrates on its original specialisation: catalogues raisonnés, monographs, private collection and exhibition catalogues, and museum guides.

The complete catalogues raisonnés cover artists such as Kandinsky, Nolde, Marc and Munch, and the monographs range from Antique Medical Instruments (published in six languages), through Andrea Riccio: Renaissance Master of Bronze and the standard work on Sorolla, the subject of a recent major exhibition at the Prado, to Brian Sewell’s new book on Richard Harrison, one of PWP’s expanding series on contemporary artists.

PWP’s concentration on the publication of exhibition catalogues has seen it collaborate with many well known private collectors and public museums, including Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, whose collection is chronicled in eighteen volumes, Robert Smith and Sir Arthur Gilbert, The Phillips Collection, The Frick Collection, Dulwich Picture Gallery, The Meadows Museum, The National Gallery of Ireland, the New-York Historical Society, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and The Walters Art Museum. These exhibition catalogues have been particularly successful over the years because of PWP’s unfailing ability to achieve two quite different things with each one: a record of an exhibition at a particular point in time, and a reference work whose scope and utility have a lasting value.

The books of Philip Wilson Publishers have been marketed and distributed internationally by I.B.Tauris for a number of years, so only the editorial and administrative functions have had to be combined following the merger of the two companies. This process has now been completed and all Philip Wilson staff have now re-located to the I.B.Tauris Head Office and can be contacted here. The Philip Wilson publishing programme will continue on its existing course under the new ownership, but with access to a wider resource base will look forward to increased growth and development in the years ahead. The Press Release issued after the acquisition can be accessed here.