Our history    Jacobus George Robbers laid the foundations of
what was to become Elsevier NV, when in 1880 a number of
established Dutch publishers and booksellers pooled their
interests. The company was named Elsevier after a 16th Century
family of booksellers and printers who had, among other things,
published the works of the Dutch philosopher, Erasmus. After the
Second World War the company diversified and achieved
considerable growth as a publisher of scientific journals. In
the 1970’s Elsevier acquired major interests in Dutch national
newspapers and commercial printing activities. During the 1980’s
Elsevier’s portfolio was reorganised in order to concentrate on
professional and business publishing activities, resulting in
the disposal of its commercial printing and trade book
publishing operations.  In 1993 Reed International PLC (now
renamed Reed Elsevier PLC) and Elsevier NV (now renamed Reed
Elsevier NV) contributed their respective businesses to form
Reed Elsevier. The combined businesses operate t