Editing Victor Gollancz Ltd

{{short description|British publishing company}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Refimprove|date=November 2010}}
{{Infobox publisher
| image        = [[File:Victor-gollancz-logo.png|100px|Victor Gollancz]]
| parent       = [[Orion Publishing Group]]
| status       = 
| founded      = {{start date and age|1927}}
| founder      = [[Victor Gollancz]]
| successor    = 
| country      = United Kingdom
| headquarters = [[London]]
| distribution = 
| keypeople    = 
| publications = Books
| topics       = 
| genre        = Science fiction, fantasy, horror
| imprints     = Gateway 
| revenue      = 
| numemployees = 
| nasdaq       = 
| url          = {{URL|http://www.gollancz.co.uk}}
}}
'''Victor Gollancz Ltd''' ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|ə|ˈ|l|æ|n|t|s}}) 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]]. 

Gollancz 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 in 1989 sold it to [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]]. Three years later in October 1992, Houghton Mifflin sold Gollancz to the publishing house [[Cassell (publisher)|Cassell & Co]]. Cassell and its [[parent company]] Orion Publishing Group were acquired by [[Hachette (publisher)|Hachette]] in 1996,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hachette.com.au/Information/CompanyHistory.page|title=History of Hachette Australia|website=hachette.com.au}}</ref> and in December 1998 the merged Orion/Cassell group turned Gollancz into its science fiction/fantasy imprint.

==Origins as a political house==
[[File:The Door into Summer cover.jpg|200px|thumb|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 (journalist)|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:
*[[George Orwell]] with ''[[Down and Out in Paris and London]]'' in 1933
*[[Alfred Ayer]] with ''[[Language, Truth and Logic]]'' in 1936
*[[A. J. Cronin]] with ''[[The Citadel (novel)|The Citadel]]'' in 1937
*[[Daphne du Maurier]] with ''[[Rebecca (novel)|Rebecca]]'' in 1938
*[[Kingsley Amis]] with ''[[Lucky Jim]]'' in 1953
*[[Colin Wilson]] with ''[[The Outsider (Colin Wilson)|The Outsider]]'' in 1956
*[[John le Carré]] with ''[[Call for the Dead]]'' in 1961
*[[E. P. Thompson]] with ''[[The Making of the English Working Class]]'' in 1963
*[[Anthony Price]] with ''[[The Labyrinth Makers]]'' in 1971.

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.<ref>[https://skinnylaminx.com/2013/10/16/inspiration-yellow-jackets/ Inspiration: Yellow jackets], skinnylaminx.com. Retrieved 25 December 2018.</ref>

The Left Book Club, the first book club in the UK, was a publishing group pioneered by Gollancz that exerted a strong left-wing influence in Great Britain from 1936 to 1948. It offered a monthly book choice, for sale to members only, as well as a newsletter that acquired the status of a major political magazine. It also held an annual rally. Membership peaked at 57,000 but it eventually ceased publishing in 1948. The books and pamphlets were published with their distinctive covers — orange for paperback (1936–1938) and red for hardback (1938–1948) editions.

==Transition to science fiction and fantasy genres==
From the early 1960s through the late 1990s, Gollancz Science Fiction was the pre-eminent hardcover science fiction publishing list in the UK, for the first quarter century being both recognisable by, and famous for, its distinctive ''Gollancz Yellow'' dust-jackets with black and magenta typography, providing a major part of the publisher's output, alongside Gollancz' crime fiction and general fiction lists. Full-colour dust-jackets were introduced on the science fiction list from the mid-1980s adding significantly to production costs, but also to commercial sales - an important consideration with increasing pressure upon the UK's public library system's budgets.
In 1998, Gollancz was diminished into just the science fiction and [[fantasy]] imprint '''Gollancz Science Fiction''' after it was acquired by [[Orion Publishing Group]]. Gollancz has also proceeded to publish the [[SF Masterworks]] series, and the Fantasy Masterworks series previously appearing under the Orion sister-imprint Millennium. Gollancz has published award-winning and award-nominated books by, among others:{{ref|WWE-Gollancz}}

{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Joe Abercrombie]]
* [[J. G. Ballard]] (later works)
* [[Stephen Baxter (author)|Stephen Baxter]]
* [[Greg Bear]]
* [[Jonathan Carroll]]
* [[Mark Chadbourn]]
* [[Arthur C. Clarke]]
* [[Michael Coney]]
* [[Robert Cormier]]
* [[Peter Delacorte]]
* [[Thomas Disch]]
* [[Stephen R. Donaldson]]
* [[Christopher Evans (author)|Christopher Evans]]
* [[Jaine Fenn]]
* [[Maggie Furey]]
* [[Mary Gentle]]
* [[William Gibson]]
* [[Jon Grimwood]]
* [[M. John Harrison|Michael Harrison]]
* [[Joe Hill (writer)|Joe Hill]]
* [[Robert Holdstock]]
* [[Stephen Hunt (author)|Stephen Hunt]]
* [[Gwyneth Jones (novelist)|Gwyneth Jones]]
* [[Graham Joyce]]
* [[Roger Levy]]
* [[James Lovegrove]]
* [[Scott Lynch]]
* [[Paul McAuley]]
* [[Ian McDonald (British author)|Ian McDonald]]
* [[George R. R. Martin]]
* [[Richard Morgan (author)|Richard Morgan]]
* [[Terry Pratchett]]
* [[Christopher Priest (novelist)|Christopher Priest]]
* [[Robert V. S. Redick]]
* [[Alastair Reynolds]]
* [[Keith Roberts]]
* [[Adam Roberts (British writer)|Adam Roberts]]
* [[Patrick Rothfuss]]
* [[Geoff Ryman]]
* [[Brandon Sanderson]]
* [[Andrzej Sapkowski]]
* [[Robert J. Sawyer]]
* [[Bob Shaw|Robert Shaw]]
* [[Dan Simmons]]
* [[Alison Sinclair (author)|Alison Sinclair]]
* [[John Sladek]]
* [[Bruce Sterling]]
* [[Jack Vance]]
* [[Ian Watson (author)|Ian Watson]]
* [[Gene Wolfe]]
{{div col end}}

==Expansion into manga==
In 2005, Gollancz set up a [[manga]] publishing arm, '''Gollancz Manga''', which published UK editions of various [[Viz Media]] properties.<ref>{{cite web |title=Away in a manga |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/away-in-a-manga-7dpt62qbd2j |url-access=subscription |website=[[The Times]] |access-date=15 January 2021 |date=6 August 2005}}</ref> As of 2014, Gollancz no longer publish manga and Viz Media have re-released the publisher's series.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The following titles have been published:
{|class="wikitable"
|''[[Detective Conan|Case Closed]]''
|volumes 1–15
|-
|''[[Dragon Ball (manga)|Dragon Ball]]''
|volumes 1–16
|-
|''[[Dragon_Ball (manga)|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!|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-book]]s. Gollancz aims to make 5,000 or more books available by 2014 and the website will be integrated with the online ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction|Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Neill|first=Graeme|title=Gollancz opens sci-fi Gateway to e-books|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/gollancz-opens-sci-fi-gateway-e-books.html|access-date=6 April 2012|newspaper=[[The Bookseller]]|date=20 July 2011}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="End">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/publishers.asp|title=Top SF/F/H Publishers|work=Worlds Without End}}</ref>

==Book series==
*[[Common Sense (series)|Common Sense]]
*[[Left Book Club]]
*New People's Library

==References==
{{reflist}}

==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}}.

==External links==
* [http://www.sfgateway.com/ ''SF Gateway'']
* [https://mrc.epexio.com/records/GLL Catalogue of the Victor Gollancz Ltd archives], held at the [[Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick]]

{{Crimethink}}
{{Louis Hachette Group}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:British speculative fiction publishers]]
[[Category:Publishing companies established in 1927]]
[[Category:George Orwell]]
[[Category:Science fiction publishers]]
[[Category:Victor Gollancz Ltd books]]
[[Category:British companies established in 1927]]