Chappell & Co. was established in London in 1811 by partners in a publishing business; the company quickly became popular for music publishing, with Beethoven himself recommending them in a letter. They began selling pianos in their shop and began building their own pianos in 1840. Production of pianos increased in the very early twentieth century and during the 1920s, Chappell purchased several highly regarded English piano manufacturing firms, including Allison & Co., Collard & Collard and John Strohmenger & Sons. For a long time, the Chappell name dominated the UK piano market, along with Kemble, Knight and Welmar, and is widely regarded as one of Britain’s finest manufacturers, with a reputation for high quality, long-lasting instruments. In later years their pianos were produced by The Kemble Piano Company of London until the year 2000.