Belford, Clarke was founded by Alexander Belford and James Clarke. The company had its roots in the Belford Brothers which was a publishing firm in Toronto.

In 1875 Belford, Clarke and Company started in Chicago and later in 1879 opened a New York office. It had a varied book list and is well known for publishing the first edition of Peck's Bad Boy. In 1888 the New York branch was spun off as the Alexander Belford company and in 1892 it joined with several other publishers to form the Werner Company.

During the 1880's Belford, Clarke and Company published a number of different Tom Brown's. These books are shown below.

1883

1884

1884

1885

Caxton Editions- Only Tom Brown School Days was published in this format. 1885

Caxton Editions- Only Tom Brown School Days was published in this format. 1886-1889

Caxton Edition- Unknown year

Household Edition- Only the Tom Brown at Oxford was published in this format. 1885-1888

1880's-Exact date unknown