2019: Lothian currently operates as an imprint of Hachette Australia. See below for a more complete organisational history.
Originally founded by John Inglis Lothian in 1888 as a Melbourne-based book distribution company, Lothian began publishing in its own right in December 1905 under the direction of John's son, Thomas Carlyle Lothian. During its first three years the publishing house produced 40 books and four periodicals. In the inter-war decades, Lothian was particularly notable for its publishing of Australian poets including Bernard O'Dowd and John Shaw Neilson. Importantly, too, Lothian represented Penguin Books in Australia until the end of the Second World War.
In 1945 the company boasted offices in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland. They also had literary agents in London and New York (Australian Writers & Artists' Market 152).
Following the incumbency of Thomas Carlyle Lothian, the company was run by his son, Louis Lothian, and then his grandson, Peter Lothian.
The company moved into children's publishing with the appointments of Anne Bower Ingram as a consultant in 1982 and Margaret Dunkle in 1987. Their successful children's list was further developed by Helen Chamberlin who joined Lothian in 1990 and became children's editor in 1994. Gary Crew contributed the list with his own picture books and as a commissioning editor. In 1997 Peter Lothian purchased the McVitty list.
In December 2005 the Time Warner Book Group announced the acquisition of Lothian and the formation of the Time Warner Book Group (Australia). Lothian Books subsequently became an imprint of Time Warner. In February 2006, Hachette Livre announced the global acquisition of Time Warner, and Lothian Books became an imprint of Hachette Livre Australia. As a result of the latter reorganisation, Lothian Books' CEO Peter Lothian announced his retirement, effective July 2006.
Hachette Australia announced in April 2006 that Lothian would expand its children's publishing in new offices based in Melbourne, and that Hachette Australia's children's books would be branded with the Lothian imprint. Lothian's adult publishing and sales and marketing would be relocated to Hachette Australia's offices in Sydney. As part of this arrangement a 'boutique' list of Australiana titles, both already published and to be commissioned, would be published under the Lothian imprint.
