Annals of a Publishing House contains the early history of the influential Scottish publishing house, William Blackwood and Sons. From small beginnings, the firm had rapidly become the leading Scottish publishing house, dominating the literary world, particularly through Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Owing to the death of Mrs Oliphant, the commissioned author, Volume 3 was written by Mary Porter, daughter of John Blackwood, sixth son of the founder, and covers his career. Beginning as head of the new London branch, he assumed control of the firm on the death of his uncle Robert in 1852. He reorganised the firm and added its prominence. He formed working relationships with many of the leading Victorian writers, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, Edward Bulwer Lytton and Thomas Hardy. He expanded the firm's output to include travel writers such as Burton on India and Speke on the search for the source of the Nile.