Thames & Hudson publishes approximately 180 new titles each year and has a current backlist of over 2000 titles. The company specialises in the arts (fine, applied, decorative, performing), archaeology and history, architecture, design, photography and travel, but also publishes in a variety of other areas, especially those of cultural interest.
Thames & Hudson was founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath. Their passion and mission for Thames & Hudson was that its books should reveal the world of art to the general public, to create a 'museum without walls' for a broad, non-specialist reading public.
To capture the essence of this international concept, the name for the company linked the rivers flowing through London and New York (although Walter later admitted he could have chosen at least six other rivers for the name!).