Closing ranks: The Publishers Association in Victorian Britain and its powerful place in institutional formation

Professional associations have been explored as institutional agents and can be powerful mechanisms for instigating practices into an industry. Despite this identification there is a lack of research which delves deeper and explores the contexts that allow strategies which contribute to institutional formation; which in turn can create professional associations in the process. Through an analysis of archival letters and newspaper articles surrounding the formation of the net book agreement in the Victorian British publishing industry, this paper illustrates how individuals formed the Publishers Association to further their own causes and protect their business interests. This paper argues that the construction of the professional association was used as the vehicle for individuals with the most power in the Victorian publishing industry to instigate change.