9.1 Terry Pratchett: Note on uk publishers, ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers)
Description
This article is from the Terry Pratchett Bibliography FAQ, by p.pinto ppint@lspace.org with numerous contributions by others.
9.1 Terry Pratchett: Note on uk publishers, ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers)
The ten-digit International Standard Book Number is used to uniquely
identify an edition of a book (though not, in uk usage, each printing).
it consists of a first section, identifying the language ("0-" or "1-"
indicates english); a second section identifying the publisher, some-
times, now, the imprint - where one publisher has been taken over by
another). it is the last part of the isbn that is peculiar to the part-
icular edition of a book from the publisher identified by these prefixes
(the final tenth figure is a check digit, that allows transmission and
typing errors to be caught by computer systems - or, in theory, by hand).
UK publishers of Terry's books, and of anthologies containing his stories.
0-006-, 0-022- HarperCollins_Publishers_ (formerly William Collins & Sons,
before that truly fine merkin citizen, Rupert Murdoch, then xxxxian, added
them to his swagbag): included are the imprints HarperCollins, Voyager, etc;
Collins, whose p/b imprint was Fontana, had by then bought Granada Publish-
ing, who had themselves absorbed Mayflower, Rupert Hart-Davis, McGibbon &
Kee, Arco, Paladin, and others - not least, Panther, which house went back
to the fifties, when Panther Books was set up as an imprint of the publish-
ers, Hamilton & Co., Staffs... Pan Books (see 0-330-) was formerly associat-
ed with Collins by partial ownership of Pan, but was operationally separate;
0-09- indicates a book published by the Arrow division of Random House UK,
formerly part of Century-Hutchinson, formerly Arrow Books, the p/b imprint
of the long-established uk publishers, Hutchinson & Co., who were for a
decade or so owned by London Weekend Television. imprints included Legend
(now sold to Little, Brown [Warner UK], who own the Orbit imprint, and are
re-badging as Orbit books, as they reprint - and changing ISBNs accordingly
[see 1-85723-] - as of mid-1997), Ebury Press & Vermilion, and Red Fox,
whose p/bs and h/cvrs also use this prefix: Random House has recently
been bought by Bertelsmann, who also own Transworld Publishers [- see
0-385-, 0-552- below];
0-19- is the prefix identifying Oxford University Press;
0-285- indicates Souvenir Press;
0-330- identifies Pan Books, formerly owned by a consortium of William
Collins, Granada and Thomas Tilling/British Electric Traction; now an
imprint of Macmillan Publishers, who owned, but now are a sister company
of, the merkin publisher, St. Martins Press (the owners of Tor Books till
this reorganisation): all are now parts of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings;
0-7522- is the prefix Macmillan use on their Boxtree imprint;
0-385- and 0-552- are, respectively, the Doubleday (h/cvr) and Corgi (p/b)
imprints of Transworld Publishers, now owned by the Bertelsmann group of
Germany (as are the merkin publishers Bantam Doubleday Dell, who have the
rights to distribute these editions in Canada, where these rights are clear
to so do [and as also, now, are both Random House and Random House U.K.
into which latter Transworld Publishers have been incorporated];
0-416- and 0-7497- indicate Methuen Childrens Books imprints of the Reed
(a.k.a. Octopus Publishing) group, formerly imprints of A.B.P. Ltd. -
their adult consumer books imprints have recently (1997) been bought by
Random House U.K., who may vary isbns upon later reissue (isbn prefix
0-09-); whose adult sf & fantasy list has, in turn, since been sold on to
Little, Brown (Time-Warner uk); the destination of their children's
list(s) is not yet known to this ppint. for certain, but is believed by
this ppint. to be as part of Egmont Children's Books.
0-450- indicates N.E.L. (New English Library), owned by Times-Mirror, inc.,
of Los Angeles when they published paperback editions of two of Terry's
early novels, but now an imprint of Hodder Headline plc, having been bought
by Hodder & Stoughton, who in turn were taken over by Headline Publishers
and who have just been bought by W.H.Smith's;
0-55214- and 0-5521- both indicate Prima Publishing, a division of Prima
Communications, Inc. - the former, in the uk, and the latter, in merkia.
0-575- identifies the once-independent Victor Gollancz Ltd., and its VGSF
imprint: both these are now imprints of Cassell, which is in turn owned
by Orion (since late 1998), who are themselves owned by Hachette; and also
Vista, which Cassell launched as an imprint of Cassell using that same stem,
after they bought Gollancz from merkin publishers, Houghton Miflin (who were
the owners of Victor Gollancz Ltd. from their purchase of it upon the retire-
ment of Livia Gollancz); see also 0-75281- etc. (Orion); titles on the vista
list are being re-badged and -isbn-ed as orion millennium books as they are
reprinted.
0-7522- is the prefix Macmillan use on their Boxtree imprint (see 0-330-);
0-75281- and 0-75280- indicate Orion, whose Millennium imprint formerly
used 1-85798- as its prefix. 70% owned by Hachette, the french publishing
conglomerate since mid 1998. see also 0-575- (Gollancz, Vista) prefix.
0-7531-, 1-85089-, and 1-85695- identify Isis Publishing Ltd: some of
these are large print h/cvr editions, and some are unabridged audio/bs.
0-86140-, 0-900675- and 0-901072- all indicate Colin Smythe Ltd. Colin is
Terry's agent, and was the first to publish his books;
1-85028- indicates the Paper Tiger imprint, once of Dragon's World: both
are now imprints of Collins-Brown; while
1-85286- identifies Titan Books Ltd;
1-85487- is used by Robinson Publishing, on their Mammoth imprint (not to
be confused with the children's imprint of Methuen, as was], as well as
upon others, such as Raven, and even Robinson;
1-85723- indicates the Orbit imprint of Little, Brown & Co. Ltd, the uk
book-publishing arm of Time-Warner, inc; and
1-870824- identifies Beccon Publications.
Continue to:
My Books
