The Collins reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Collins

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Collins was a Scottish publishing company founded by William Collins in 1819. He was a schoolmaster and his aim was to publish religious and educational books.

In the 20th century Collins became best known as publishers of dictionaries. In 1989 Collins was taken over by News International Corporation. Joined together with the US publisher Harper & Row, they now trade under the name HarperCollins.

See also: COBUILD