Berkley
Berkley is a New York imprint founded in 1955 by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein, owned by Putnam from 1965 and now part of Penguin Random House, known for romance, thrillers and science fiction.
- Editions tracked
- 197
- First editions
- 152
- Books
- 197
- Years
- 1932 to 2025
About Berkley
Berkley is a New York paperback and hardback imprint founded in 1955 by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein, two former Avon employees, and now part of the Penguin Publishing Group at Penguin Random House.
Berkley began as an independent paperback house. Its Berkley Medallion line published the American edition of J. G. Ballard's The Drowned World in 1962, following Victor Gollancz's London edition that year. G. P. Putnam's Sons bought Berkley in 1965, and when Penguin bought Putnam in 1996 Berkley came with it, joining Penguin Random House after the 2013 merger.
Its authors have included Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Dean Koontz, Patricia Cornwell, Frank Herbert, Robert A. Heinlein and Christine Feehan. Berkley issued the first edition of Vengeance in Death in Nora Roberts's In Death series, written as J. D. Robb, which began with Naked in Death in July 1995.
We have not yet written the guide to Berkley's first-edition conventions. Until we do, check each book's own page: we list its points where we know them. Know how Berkley marked its firsts? Tell us.
Authors
Published by Berkley
Frequently asked questions
How many Berkley books does MyVolumes track?
We track 197 editions published by Berkley, 152 of them first editions, across 197 books.
Where these facts come from
- Berkley Books, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- The Drowned World, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- In Death, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 17 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.