Bloomsbury buys Methuen, publisher of Mamet, Wilde

LONDON, May 26 (Reuters) Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Plc had bought Methuen Drama Ltd for 2.35 million pounds, acquiring the works of playwrights such as Oscar Wilde, David Mamet and Michael Frayn.

Methuen Drama, with about 700 titles in print, will become part of Bloomsbury's A&C Black division, which publishes some of Bernard Shaw's most famous plays, among other works.

''We have the sales and marketing expertise to exploit its list fully in the trade and educational markets and will be looking to add both practical theatre titles and new works which will become the classic plays of the future,'' Bloomsbury Chairman Nigel Newton said yesterday.

Among the plays Methuen publishes are Wilde's ''The Importance of Being Earnest'', Mamet's ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' and Frayn's ''Copenhagen''.

Methuen's general-interest books will stay with the current management, Bloomsbury said.

Bloomsbury shares were up 0.5 per cent to 324 3/4 pence at 1645 hrs (IST) They are down about 3.6 per cent since the start of the year compared with about a 2.8 per cent decline in the DJ Stoxx media index over the same span.

REUTERS SRS KN1019