John Jarrold, who had been a printer in Woodbridge in Suffolk, began a printing and publishing business with his four sons in Norwich in 1823. They published a local newspaper and a series of textbooks, and opened a London office in 1847. The firm published temperance literature, and the work of the Quaker poet Mary Sewell. In 1877 Anna Sewell's book Black Beauty was a best-seller for Jarrold.
The Norwich and London branches were each formed into private companies early in the twentieth century. The London company, which published some fiction in cheap editions, including Jarrold's Popular Penny Stories and Jarrold's Sixpenny Books, was sold to Hutchinson and Company in 1921.
By the time of the Second World war, the Norwich Jarrolds had developed as a large printer. A leader in the development of photolithographic processes, the company became Jarrold Colour Publications. Aside from its large printing output of brochures and catalogues, it also publishes guidebooks and travel books.
