8-K

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                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549





                                    FORM 8-K



                                 CURRENT REPORT
                       PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF
                       THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934


        DATE OF REPORT (DATE OF EARLIEST EVENT REPORTED): OCTOBER 9, 1998





                            THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY
               (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)


         Delaware                       1-13492                  95-4481525
(State or Other Jurisdiction     (Commission File Number)     (I.R.S. Employer
     of Incorporation)                                       Identification No.)

               Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, California 90053
               (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)



       Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (213) 237-3700


                                      None
          (Former Name or Former Address, if Changes Since Last Report)



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ITEM 5.  OTHER EVENTS.

         In a press release dated October 9, 1998, The Times Mirror Company
("Times Mirror") and Harcourt General, Inc. ("Harcourt General") jointly
announced the completion of the acquisition by Harcourt General of Times
Mirror's health sciences publisher Mosby, Inc.

         Attached as Exhibit 99 and incorporated herein by reference to this
Form 8-K is a copy of the press release dated October 9, 1998 of Times Mirror 
and Harcourt General.


ITEM 7.  EXHIBITS.

         (c)      Exhibits

                  99    Press Release issued by The Times Mirror Company and
                        Harcourt General, Inc. on October 9, 1998


                                   SIGNATURES

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

Date: October 13, 1998

                                            THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY



                                           By:   /s/ WILLIAM A. NIESE
                                              __________________________________
                                              Name:  William A. Niese
                                              Title: Vice President
                                                     and General Counsel



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EX-99

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                                                                      EXHIBIT 99


Contact

     Peter Farwell                 Martha Goldstein         Jean Jarvis
     Corporate Relations           Press Information        Investor Information
     Harcourt General              Times Mirror             Times Mirror
     (617) 232-8200                (213) 237-3727           (213) 237-3955


                                                           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                       HARCOURT GENERAL AND TIMES MIRROR
                           COMPLETE MOSBY TRANSACTION

     CHESTNUT HILL, Mass., October 9, 1998 - Harcourt General, Inc. (NYSE:H) and
The Times Mirror Company (NYSE:TMC) jointly announced today that Harcourt 
General has completed the acquisition of Mosby, Inc., a professional health 
science/medical publishing business, from Times Mirror. The transaction, which 
was announced May 6, is valued at $415 million.

     Mosby, which publishes more than 3,000 books and 100 periodicals in 
nursing, allied health and medicine, has annual revenues of approximately $225 
million. Mosby is now part of the Worldwide Scientific/Technical/Medical Group 
of Harcourt Brace & Company, Harcourt General's publishing subsidiary. Other 
medical publishers in that Group are leading global imprints W.B. Saunders and 
Churchill Livingstone.

     Harcourt General is a leading global multiple-media publisher and service 
provider to established educational, trade and professional markets as well as 
to emerging for-profit educational, career-training and assessment markets. The 
Company is also a leading specialty retailer through its 53% controlling 
interest in The Neiman Marcus Group (NYSE:NMG).

     Times Mirror, a Los Angeles-based news and information company, publishes 
the Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Hartford Courant, The Morning 
Call, The (Stamford) Advocate and Greenwich Time; a wide array of professional 
information for the aviation, training and health improvement markets, and 
consumer magazines. Times Mirror newspapers have won a total of 58 Pulitzer 
Prizes, among the highest of any news and information company in the country.