William Collins, Sons & Co Ltd is more commonly known by the name of Collins. William Collins founded his printing and publishing company in Glasgow in 1819. He published the first Collins dictionary in 1824. His son, Sir William Collins, developed the company as a publisher of religious and educational books from 1848. The next generation of the Collins family, William and Alexander, joined the company in 1865. The company name changed to William Collins, Sons Co, becoming the limited company William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd in 1868.

In 1880, the company was registered so that it could take over the business of a public printers. The following year, the company issued the first Collins diaries for a mass market.

By 1900 the company had begun to publish literature, beginning with children's literature and, in 1926, publishing an Agatha Christie novel.

In 1989, William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd merged with the American company Harper and Row to form Harper Collins.