company timeline

Over the past 230 years, Bowne has evolved from a small stationery shop to a global corporation specializing in financial, marketing and business communications. Throughout our long history, Bowne’s innovative spirit and customer focus have consistently enabled us to meet the ever-changing needs of our clients with speed, accuracy and confidence.

• 1775

  Two years after the Boston Tea Party protests British taxes on international commerce, Robert Bowne opens Bowne & Co. at 39 Queen Street (now Pearl Street), in New York City. He sells writing papers, account books, quills and pens, binding and printing materials, cloth, powder, furs, nails, glass and dry goods, pitch pine boards and cutlery. Within a few years, actual printing is added to Bowne's business services.

• 1784

  After the American colonies win their independence in 1781, Robert Bowne joins Alexander Hamilton and other men of business to found the Bank of New York, the city's first bank. Robert Bowne hires a young John Jacob Astor at $2 per week.

• 1791

  Robert Bowne and others found the Inland Navigation Co., helping to open the American interior to commerce. This leads directly to the building of the Erie Canal, completed in 1825, which will help turn New York City into a financial capital.

• 1818

  Founder Robert Bowne dies. His sons, Robert and John, assume leadership of the firm, which continues to be called Bowne & Co. At their father's funeral, it is said that the elder Robert Bowne's "active mind, open purse, expanded heart and willing feet knew no bounds."

• 1853

  Bowne & Co. is awarded the gold medal for excellence in manufacturing business materials for its customers.

• 1858

  Bowne prints the first baseball rulebook for its customer, the fledging National Association of Baseball Players. In 1995, Bowne & Co. donates the unique surviving copy to the New York Public Library.

• 1865

  Throughout the turmoil of the American Civil War, Bowne & Co. stays open for business.

• 1879

  Bowne installs one of New York's first telephones. The company's original phone number was "John 161."

• 1884

  Almost as soon as it is invented, Bowne begins using the Linotype machine, the cutting-edge typographic technology of its day.

• 1898

  Robert Bowne, III, retires, ending the Bowne family's 123-year association with Bowne & Co. An editorial in The Mercantile & Financial Times marks the event: "It [Bowne] can be said without exaggeration that there is no concern that does better work than they do, or that enjoys a more honorable reputation... [It has] become a veritable Gibraltar of business stability."

• 1909

  Bowne & Co. incorporates in New York. Although most of its customers are Manhattan's banking and insurance firms, the company prints an increasing amount of the securities offering circulars of New York underwriters.

• 1929

  On Wall Street, the stock market crashes, ushering in the Great Depression. Just as during the Civil War, and unlike many businesses at the time, Bowne & Co., Inc. never closes its doors.

• 1934

  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is established. Bowne begins working with the SEC as soon as corporate disclosure becomes mandatory.

• 1941

  The United States enters World War II. At the beginning of the war, the presses at Bowne & Co., Inc. run around the clock to print application blanks for Defense Bonds.

• 1966

  Bowne & Co., Inc. acquires Garber-Pollack Co., a bindery; and Redler Inc., a commercial printing firm—Bowne's first corporate acquisitions.

• 1968

  Bowne & Co., Inc. goes public on August 20, and begins trading on the American Stock Exchange.

  
  

  In Chicago, Bowne acquires the LaSalle Street Press, the largest financial printer outside of New York. This begins the expansion of Bowne Financial print.

• 1975

  A year before the U.S. Bicentennial, Bowne celebrates its own bicentennial with nationwide fanfare and record earnings.

  
  

  Bowne & Co. Stationers, a fully operating letter-press print shop of the 1800s, opens as part of the South Street Seaport Museum in downtown Manhattan.

• 1983

  Bowne & Co., Inc. implements "cold type," also know as computerized typesetting. Over the next 15 years, Bowne develops the proprietary and state-of-the-art typesetting system called BITS.

• 1984

  The SEC introduces EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering and Retrieval) system. Bowne is the first public company to join the SEC's EDGAR program.

  
  

  Bowne becomes an international company with the acquisition of Plow & Watters Canada Ltd.

• 1991

  The company opens its first European office, Bowne of London.

• 1992

  On July 15, Bowne makes history as the first company to file on an operational EDGAR system.

• 1995

  Bowne donates the first two centuries of its corporate archives to the New York Public Library as an historical resource for scholars around the world.

• 1996

  Capital raised by initial public offerings, worldwide, tops $1 trillion for the first time. Bowne prints 50% of these IPOs.

• 1999

  On July 1, Bowne & Co., Inc. is listed, on the New York Stock Exchange.

  
  

  Bowne becomes the first public company to file documents with the SEC in HTML format; Bowne calls this offering EDGAR-2.

• 2002

  Congress passes the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Bowne prepares for the accelerated deadlines and smaller work-flow windows these new regulations will demand. Xmark, for example, automates the high-speed conversion of customer-supplied electronic files into a variety of formats—reducing data conversion times by 50% to 90%.

• 2003

  Bowne extends its ability to help companies comply with Sarbanes-Oxley with the launch of BowneFile16.

• 2004

  The release of Bowne 8-K Express, an enhanced BowneFile 16, and other electronic tools further clients' electronic document management capabilities.

  
  

  In December, Bowne enters into an aggressive Share Repurchase Program and purchases 13 million shares for approximately $197 million before the close of the program in 2007.

• 2005

  The first to make an SEC filing in the Commission's XBRL Pilot Program, Bowne reinforces its position at the leading edge of financial communications technologies.

  
  

  Bowne & Co., Inc. moves its corporate headquarters to 55 Water Street in downtown Manhattan, less than half a mile from its original location in 1775.

  
  

  Bowne launches Bowne Virtual Dataroom, its virtual data room offering.

  
  

  The company launches its Advanced Composition Engine (ACE), its new cutting-edge composition system.

  
  

  Bowne becomes the first public company to file its earnings release in XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) format.

• 2006

  Bowne acquires the marketing and business communications division of Vestcom International, greatly expanding Bowne's digital print and personalization offerings.

  
  

  Bowne launches FundAlign, a robust content management system for the mutual fund and investment management industry.

  
  

  Bowne announces strategic relationship with Rivet Software, enabling the company to offer the most comprehensive and flexible suite of solutions available surrounding XBRL.

• 2007

  Bowne acquires the financial print division of St Ives plc, allowing Bowne to expand its reach into the Public Limited Company (PLC) market and the investment management marketplace in Europe.

  
  

  Bowne acquires ADS MB Corporation (Alliance Data Mail Services), a leading provider of personalized marketing, loyalty and transaction services serving clients in the financial services, healthcare, retail, government and utilities industries.

  
  

  Bowne introduces Bowne ePOD™, enabling issuers to furnish proxy materials to shareholders through an electronic Notice and Access delivery model.

  
  

  Bowne integrates its offset and digital printing resources to create a fully-integrated distributive print platform.

• 2008

  Bowne acquires GCom² Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of proprietary financial administration, reporting software and solutions to the global investment management industry.

  
  

  Bowne acquires the digital print and personalization business of Rapid Solutions Group (RSG), a subsidiary of Janus Capital Group Inc., enabling Bowne to further extend its marketing and communication solutions to clients in the financial services and health care industries.

  
  

  Bowne acquires the US-based assets and operating business of Capital Systems, Inc. (Capital), a leading provider of financial communications based in midtown Manhattan, allowing Bowne to increase its market share in New York, while also gaining a midtown office.