Fire and Water: Harper's Torch and Collins' Fountain

Research digression.

In 1987 NEWS CORPORATION acquired the New York publishers HARPER & ROW; in 1989 they acquired the Scottish publishing company WILLIAM COLLINS, SONS & CO. LTD. Very soon after (1989–1990) the two companies were merged to form HARPERCOLLINS. The HARPERCOLLINS logo, and name, is a story of predecessors.

J. & J. HARPER was founded in New York City, in 1817, when two brothers opened a printing shop; by 1833 the publisher-printers had become the publishing house HARPER & BROTHERS. Over a century later, in 1962, they merged with the textbook publisher ROW, PETERSON & COMPANY to form HARPER & ROW.

CHALMERS & COLLINS was founded in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1819; by 1826 the partnership had ceased, with William Collins continuing alone. WILLIAM COLLINS, SONS & CO. would be run by William Collins and generations of his descendents—at least five (!) called William Collins—until at least the late 1960s. In the 1970s the company had relocated from their central Glasgow offices to Bishopbriggs on the outskirts of the city; HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD (a registered Scottish company) is still there today.

HARPER & BROTHERS started using their torch colophon in 1845; the torch is depicted changing hands, symbolising the sharing of knowledge. There was also a quote from Plato's The Republic, later dropped. The design went through many changes but the flame remained constant. 

The origin of the COLLINS ‘fountain mark’ is less clear. In early publications COLLINS utilised a coat of arms as a colophon; they later used several other designs, some based on their address/location. In 1881 a public drinking fountain, the ‘Collins Fountain’, was erected in Glasgow Green in recognition of William Collins (II); perhaps this played some part in the fountain design becoming COLLINS' company mark in 1936. I don't see much evidence of it being widely used as a colophon in their books; the ‘Collins Classics’ images (in yellow, above) are from the dustjacket of a 1950s publication.

The HARPERCOLLINS stylised ‘flames atop waves’ logo—in fact a series of logos—was designed and created by the design firm CHERMAYEFF & GEISMAR & HAVIV, bringing together the fire from HARPER's torch and the water from COLLINS' fountain. Very soon after, in July 1990, HARPERCOLLINS acquired UNWIN HYMAN—described by Rayner Unwin as a messy ‘asset-stripping’ operation (George Allen & Unwin: A Remembrancer, p. 288)—and the publishing rights to Tolkien. Flames and waves, or fire and water, makes me (and I'm sure others) also think of Tolkien's writing.

I'm reminded of Gandalf, ‘I have passed through fire and deep water’ (‘The White Rider’), and chapter 14 of The Hobbit, ‘Fire and Water’. But mostly it makes me think of Númenor: ‘Then suddenly fire burst from the Meneltarma, and there came a mighty wind and a tumult of the earth, and the sky reeled, and the hills slid, and Númenor went down into the sea’. And particularly Ted Nasmith's The Ships of the Faithful.

2008 Paperback — 2021 Hardback

But there is no connection. 

Using WAYBACKMACHINE it is possible to approximate when HARPERCOLLINS created various websites. And in 1999 they started using the fireandwater.com domain, presumably the first commercial use (by anyone); it limped on into the late 2000s. At this point fireandwater.com was a general HARPERCOLLINS bookselling site. Did they have any thoughts to the applicability—beyond their own corporate branding (and history)—of this web address in respect to one of their most important intellectual properties, Tolkien? I'm guessing not. The tolkien.co.uk domain was acquired by HARPERCOLLINS (from a private individual) soon after, and in 2001 this became their ‘official’ online Tolkien bookshop. Of course, it is clear they wanted both; two sites, one general, one Tolkien-specific. But they already had another website, their harpercollins.co.uk domain, which they had been using since around 1996.

In conclusion, and not to labour the point too much further, it strikes me as somewhat ironic that HARPERCOLLINS took possession of the tolkien.co.uk web domain—which was, admittedly, an entirely sensible commercial decision—with the express intent (realised) of launching a new Tolkien-specific book website, when they already had (and were already using) a web domain that probably would have been presumed (had they kept using it) to have been an intentional, if oblique, reference to Tolkien's writing. Which would not only have been appropriate, but a bit more interesting. However, of the three domains, it would be fireandwater.com that would drift into disuse and eventual oblivion.