Arbor House
Arbor House was an American publisher founded by Donald I. Fine in 1969, owned by Hearst from 1978 and merged into William Morrow in 1988, noted for its 1980s science fiction list.
- Editions tracked
- 43
- First editions
- 31
- Books
- 42
- Years
- 1972 to 1989
Arbor House is a publisher based in Maryland, founded in 1969. We track 43 editions it published between 1972 and 1989, 31 of them first editions across 42 books. Each book lists its first edition and the points that identify it.
About Arbor House
Arbor House was an American trade publisher founded in 1969 by Donald I. Fine, owned by Hearst from 1978 and folded into William Morrow as an imprint from 1988, remembered by collectors for its 1980s science fiction list.
Fine, formerly a vice president of Dell Publishing and a co-founder of Delacorte Press, started the company in Westminster, Maryland, with a $5,000 loan. It began as a hardcover publisher; early authors included Hortense Calisher, Ken Follett, Cynthia Freeman, Elmore Leonard and Irwin Shaw. Martin Caidin's Cyborg (1972) and its sequels appeared under its imprint.
The Hearst Corporation bought Arbor House in 1978 for a reported $1.5 million and took it into paperback publishing as well. Bestsellers of the Hearst years included Elmore Leonard's Bandits and Sydney Biddle Barrows's Mayflower Madam. In the 1980s it built a strong science fiction and fantasy list: Robert Silverberg's Majipoor Chronicles and Valentine Pontifex and the Arbor House Treasury anthologies he edited with Martin H. Greenberg, Greg Bear's Blood Music, Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix and Mirrorshades, Philip K. Dick's Radio Free Albemuth, William Gibson's Count Zero and Burning Chrome, Guy Gavriel Kay's The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire and The Darkest Road and Roger Zelazny's later Amber novels.
In January 1987 the list was cut from about 70 to about 40 books a year, and that June Hearst announced that Arbor House would become a William Morrow imprint from January 1988. Morrow later became part of HarperCollins. The name has been used again by a publisher operating since 2019.
We have not yet written the guide to Arbor House's first-edition conventions. Until we do, check each book's own page: we list its points where we know them. Know how Arbor House marked its firsts? Tell us.
Authors
Published by Arbor House
Frequently asked questions
How many Arbor House books does MyVolumes track?
We track 43 editions published by Arbor House, 31 of them first editions, across 42 books.
Where these facts come from
- Arbor House, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Arbor House, Worlds Without End (worldswithoutend.com)
- Arbor House (Q4034270), Wikidata (wikidata.org)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 18 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.