The Chappell Piano Co., Ltd., also known as Chappell Piano Company Ltd. and colloquially "Chappell Pianos," was a prolific British manufacturer of fortepianos, as well as distributor and retailer of various musical instruments, phonographs, and other similar equipment. It was one of two core branches of Chappell & Co. Ltd., a company established in 1811 by Samuel Chappell (ca.1782—1834) in partnership with renowned pianist and composer Johann Baptist Cramer (1771—1858) and professor Jean Francis Tatton "Théodore" Latour (ca.1766—1837); their second venture, Chappell Music publishing house, became a forerunner to one of modern "major" labels: purchased by PolyGram in 1968 for £20 million, and then acquired by US conglomerate Warner Bros. in 1987 for over $200 million to form Warner/Chappell — today, part of Warner Music Group (one of "big three" labels that dominate the record industry, after Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment). The Chappell Piano Co.'s massive two-floor showroom on Bond Street featured fortepianos and other musical instruments from leading European makers, both for sale and rent, plus a broad selection of sheet music. (In later years, the inventory further expanded to phonograph records and various reproduction devices.) In 1834, Samuel's oldest son, William Chappell (1809—1888), took over the firm and managed it on behalf of his widowed mother, Emily Chappell, née Patey (1787—1877). Around 1843, William resigned and left the family business to join Johann B. Cramer's own publishing house and instrument manufacturing, Cramer & Co. After that, his younger brother, Thomas Patey Chappell (1819—1902), resumed control. During his tenure, the company began making original fortepianos. In 1901, piano manufacturing and publishing were formally split between different corporations. Chappell Piano Co. further proliferated, gaining a strong footing on the highly competitive UK market. Throughout the 1920s, Chappell acquired several other reputable English piano makers, including Collard & Collard (est. 1815), John Strohmenger & Sons (1835), and Allison & Co. (1837). In 1926, the lucrative and profitable company left the family, purchased by brothers Louis (1877—1967) and Max Dreyfus (1874—1964). After three decades of successful business, piano manufacturing began to slow down, particularly disrupted by the fire in May 1964 that almost destroyed the company's main London building. In 1980, Chappell sold the remaining manufacturing assets, as well as their retail shop locations, to Kemble Pianos, a major distributor of Yamaha pianos; the firm continued distributing pianos under the "Chappell of Bond Street" brand until 2000.