Science Fiction Imprints and Their ISBN Prefixes
- Ace
-
- Ace Books founded in 1953
- Acquired by Grosset & Dunlap in the 1970s
- In 1982, Grosset & Dunlap was acquired by Putnam which also
held Berkley. Ace
became Berkley's SF imprint, combining their
backlists.
- Acquired by Penguin Group USA during the purchase of Putnam in
1996.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Amereon
-
- A hardback reprint company with several imprints: Lightyear Press,
Buccaneer Books Inc, Aeonian Press, Rivercity Press, Yestermorrow.
- Successfully sued by Virginia Heinlein and put out of business
(see the
June 2007
Heinlein Society Newsletter).
- ISBN Prefixes
- 1-56
- 0-84880...
- 0-84881...
- 0-84882...
- 0-88411...
- 0-89190...
- 0-89968...
- Baen
-
- Founded by Jim Baen in 1983 to offer science fiction distributed
through Simon & Shuster's Pocket Books.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Berkley
-
- Founded as Chic News Company in the 1950s
- Renamed Berkley Publishing Co. in 1955
- Acquired by Putnam in 1965 and became their paperback publisher
(sometimes called Putnam Berkley Group)
- Used the imprint Berkley Medallion Books during the 60s and
perhaps later
- After Putnam's acquisition of Ace (part of Grosset & Dunlap)
in 1982, the Berkley and Ace backlists were combined and Ace became the Berkley
science fiction imprint.
- Acquired by Penguin Group USA during the purchase of Putnam in
1996.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Corgi (UK)
-
- An imprint of Transworld
- ISBN Prefixes
- Del Rey
-
- An imprint of Ballentine Books established in 1977 and now part of
Random House.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Dennis Dobson (UK)
-
- Publisher from the 50s to the 70s?
- ISBN Prefixes
- Doubleday
-
- Doubleday & Co was founded as Doubleday & McClure Co in
1897.
- Sold to Bartelsmann in 1986, joined with Bantam/Doubleday/Dell in
1988, and is now a division of Random House.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Easton Press
-
- Specialized collector's edition publisher
- Gnome
-
- Founded in 1948
- Small press publisher of many big-name sf authors
- Last publication 1962? (pre-ISBN)
- Gollancz (UK)
-
- Victor Gollancz, Ltd. (1927-1989)
- Imprint of Houghton Mifflin (1989-1992)
- Imprint (Victor Gollancz Science Fiction) of Orion Publishing
Group since Oct 1992
- ISBN Prefixes
- Gregg Press
-
- Founded in 1965
- Sold to ITT Corp in 1972 to become an imprint of G.K. Hall &
Co.
- The Gregg Press Science Fiction series published small collector's
print runs of 225 titles between 1974 and 1980.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Grosset & Dunlap
-
- Founded in 1898
- Acquired by Putnam in 1982
- Now part of Penguin USA
- Hodder & Stoughton / Hodder Paperback (UK)
-
- Hodder & Stoughton founded in 1868
- Merged with Headline to become an imprint of Hodder Headline
- Now owned by Hachette Livre
- At some point, they acquired New English Library and since at
least 2005 have published some of the NEL backlist as Hodder
Paperback or Hodder & Stoughton Paperback.
- Mayflower (UK)
-
- British subsidiary (Mayflower Books Ltd) of Dell Publishing Co, Inc, formed in 1962
- Acquired by Granada Group Ltd in 1967
- Trnasferred to Granada Publishing Ltd in 1968
- Granada was sold to William Collins, Sons & Co Ltd in 1983
- Dissolved in 1993
- ISBN Prefixes
- NEL (UK)
-
- New English Library since at least 1971. Primarily paperbacks.
- Now an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton or Hodder Headline Ltd.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Orb
-
- An imprint of St. Martin's Press
- Reprints trade paperbacks from Tor Books, which is why they share
the same ISBN prefix.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Orbit Books (UK)
-
- Founded in 1974 as part of Macdonald Futura.
- Sold to Little, Brown & Co in 1992.
- Sold to Hachette Book Group in 2007.
- Now includes imprints in US and Australia.
- ISBN Prefixes:
- Pan (UK)
-
- Founded in 1944
- Became an imprint of Macmillian Publishers started in the 1940s
- Panther (UK)
-
- Panther Books Ltd became active in the 1960s. Books were
published as A Panther Book or Panther Science Fiction
- Became an imprint of Granada by 1968
- Granada was sold to William Collins, Sons & Co Ltd in 1983
- After merger with Harper & Row in 1969, became part of Harper
Collins Publishers Ltd.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Penguin (UK)
-
- Founded in 1935 as an imprint of Bodley Head
- Now a major imprint of the Penguin Group, owned by Pearson PLC.
- ISBN Prefixes
-
- Putnam
-
- Wiley & Putnam (1838-1872)
- G.P. Putnam's Sons (1872-1996)
- After acquiring Berkley, was sometimes called
the Putnam Berkley Group
- A division of Penguin Young Readers Group (part of Penguin Group
USA) since 1996
- ISBN Prefixes
- Pyramid / Jove
-
- Founded in 1949
- Sold to Walter Reade Organization in the late 1960s
- Acquired by Harcourt Brace in 1974
- Changed name of imprint to Jove in 1977
- Sold to Putnum in 1979
- Now part of the Penguin Group
- ISBN Prefixes
- Readers Union (UK)
-
- Book club reprint publisher in the UK, including the UK SFBC.
- Rebinders
-
- There are some publishers who strip the covers off a paperback
book and rebind it in hardcover for libraries. Sometimes they put the
cover art on the new hardback. Sometimes they issue a new ISBN.
These may be different names for the same rebinder because they all
use the same ISBN prefix: BT Bound,
Econo-Clad,
Sagebrush, Turtleback. Some are distributed by Demco Media.
- ISBN Prefixes
- 0-606...
- 0-613...
- 0-7857...
- 0-8085...
- Roc
-
- Part of Penguin Group USA
- Science Fiction Book Club
-
- Since 1953, one of the Doubleday book clubs. Many early books
were published in hardcover with no ISBN. Even into 1999, there were
no ISBNs. But later, some ISBNs did appear for the Science Fiction
Book Club and other book club special editions.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Shasta
-
- Founded in 1947
- A sf imprint in the 1950s
- Sidgwick & Jackson (UK)
-
- Founded in 1908.
- Now owned by Pan Macmillan.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Signet and RoC
-
- I wish I knew a bit more about these twyo. Both have used
ISBN 0-451... (also used by Onyz books). RoC has also used the
Penguin 0-14.... Both are now imprints of
Penguin Group USA.
-
Some online listings of books indicate
"Signet/RoC," such as Shadows of Doom, ISBN 0-451-13815-5. It has the
Signet symbol on the cover, but Amazon lists RoC as the publisher.
- I think that Signet began as the science fiction imprint of the
New American Library around 1948-1950.
- The earliest book with RoC on the cover that I have seen:
The Copper Crown, RoC, ISBN 0-451-45050-7 (1986).
- Signet and RoC are both still publishing in 2007. The editors for
the RoC imprint are also Ace's current publishers.
- With this in mind, I shall list any "RoC" pre-1986 book as Signet
unless I find RoC on a cover or title page before 1986.
- I have listed some Signet numbers elsewhere.
- ISBN Prefixes
- 0-14... (The Penguin prefix used by RoC)
- 0-451... (Both Signet and RoC)
- Sphere (UK)
-
- Paperback publisher from 1962 to 1990.
- ISBN Prefixes
- Stealth Press
-
- A hardcover reprint and e-book publisher founded in 2000
- Out of business by 2003
- ISBN Prefixes
- Tor
-
- An imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
- Sold to St. Martin's Press in 1986
- Now part of the Holtzbrinck group
- ISBN Prefixes