Isaac Arrowsmith was a printer of Bristol, England, who began publishing items of local interest in the 1860s. Following Isaac's death in 1871 his son, J. W. Arrowsmith, developed the publishing side of the business. From the 1880s J. W. Arrowsmith published a succession of commercially successful books, many of them novels, in first editions.
Business dwindled during the period of the first and second world wars, and an attempt to relocate in London from 1924 ultimately failed. The firm virtually ceased publishing after the sale of its backlist to J. M. Dent in 1949. J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd continued as a successful Bristol-based typesetter and printer.
