Victor Gollancz Ltd

Victor Gollancz Ltd (/ɡəˈlænts/) was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group. It was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz and specialised in the publication of high-quality literature, nonfiction and popular fiction, including crime, detective, mystery, thriller and science fiction. Upon Gollancz's death in 1967, ownership passed to his daughter, Livia, who sold it to Houghton Mifflin in 1989. Three years later in October 1992, Houghton Mifflin sold Gollancz to the publishing house Cassell & Co. Cassell and its parent company Orion Publishing Group were acquired by Hachette in 1996,[1] and in December 1998 the merged Orion/Cassell group turned Gollancz into its science fiction/fantasy imprint.

Victor Gollancz Ltd
Parent companyOrion Publishing Group
Founded1927 (1927)
FounderVictor Gollancz
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Headquarters locationLondon
Publication typesBooks
Fiction genresScience fiction, fantasy, horror
Official websitewww.gollancz.co.uk

Origins as a political house
A Gollancz edition of The Door into Summer, displaying the distinctive yellow dust jacket style.

Gollancz was left-inclined in politics and a supporter of socialist movements. This is reflected in some of the call for the books he published. Victor Gollancz commissioned George Orwell to write about the urban working class in the North of England; the result was The Road to Wigan Pier. His break with Orwell came when he declined to publish Orwell's account of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia, the pair having drifted apart on political grounds. He did publish The Red Army Moves by Geoffrey Cox on the Winter War, which was critical of the Soviet attack on Finland, but also foresaw that the Red Army would defeat the Germans. He also published works by German exiles, such as Hilde Meisel.

Gollancz was the original publisher of a number of authors and their books including:

Many of Gollancz's books were published in one of their familiar house dust jackets, of which the most famous was bright yellow, with the title and author rendered in a vibrant, bold typography.[2]

Transition to science fiction and fantasy genres

In 1998, Gollancz was developed into a science fiction and fantasy imprint Gollancz Science Fiction after it was acquired by Orion Publishing Group. Gollancz then proceeded to manage the SF Masterworks series, previously overseen by Orion sister-imprint Millennium. Gollancz has published award-winning and award-nominated books by, among others:

Expansion into manga

In 2005, Gollancz set up a manga publishing arm, Gollancz Manga, which published UK editions of various Viz Media properties.[3] As of 2014, Gollancz no longer publish manga and Viz Media have re-released the publisher's series.

The following titles have been published:

Case Closed volumes 1–15
Dragon Ball volumes 1–16
Dragon Ball Z volumes 1–4
Fushigi Yūgi volumes 1–17
Flame of Recca volumes 1–10
Maison Ikkoku volumes 1–15
One Piece volumes 1–12
Rurouni Kenshin volumes 1–16
Yu-Gi-Oh! volumes 1–7
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist volumes 1–15

SF Gateway website

In 2011, Gollancz launched the SF Gateway website, an online library that features out-of-print science fiction books republished as e-books. Gollancz aims to make 5,000 or more books available by 2014 and the website will be integrated with the online Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.[4]

Accolades

In terms of the number of published works that have been nominated for major awards, Gollancz ranks as one of the field's top publishers of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction.[5]

Book series

References
  1. "History of Hachette Australia". hachette.com.au.
  2. Inspiration: Yellow jackets, skinnylaminx.com. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  3. "Away in a manga". The Times. 6 August 2005. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  4. Neill, Graeme (20 July 2011). "Gollancz opens sci-fi Gateway to e-books". The Bookseller. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  5. "Top SF/F/H Publishers". Worlds Without End.

Further reading
  • Edwards, Ruth Dudley. Victor Gollancz: A Biography. London: V. Gollancz, 1987. ISBN 0-575-03175-1.
  • Hodges, Sheila. Gollancz: The Story of a Publishing House, 1928–1978. London: V. Gollancz, 1978. ISBN 0-575-02447-X.
  • Williams, Richard and Ralph Spurrier. Gollancz Crime Fiction 1928-1988: A Checklist of the First Editions, with a Guide to their Values. Scunthorpe: Dragonby Press, 1989. ISBN 187112204X.
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