Two firms share this name: the Century Company of New York (1881 to 1933) and the London house Century, founded in the early 1980s and part of Random House, now Penguin Random House UK, since 1989.
Century is a British publishing imprint founded in 1982 by Anthony Cheetham with Gail Rebuck, Peter Roche and Rosie de Courcy, which merged with Hutchinson in 1985 and has belonged to the Random House group, now Penguin Random House UK, since 1989.
Century was one of several houses Cheetham started; he later co-founded Orion in 1991. Gail Rebuck, a founder director in 1982, went on to chair Random House UK from 1991 to 2013. The 1985 merger with Hutchinson created Century Hutchinson, which Random House bought in 1989 and folded into its British group. The combined business was briefly known as Random Century from 1990 to 1992.
Century survives as an imprint of Cornerstone, one of Penguin Random House UK's publishing divisions.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Century's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Century first editions
What to look for
Before 1920
These are Century Company books from New York.
- UNVERIFIED: as with most publishers of this period, a first edition normally has a dated title page matching the copyright date, with no mention of earlier printings.
- UNVERIFIED: Century Company books of the 1910s often carry a line such as "Published, October, 1911" on the back of the title page, which helps date the first printing.
1920s to 1933
UNVERIFIED: the Century Company had no consistent way of marking first editions, so a copy needs checking against a bibliography of the title. The firm became Appleton-Century in 1933.
1980s to 1990s
These are books from the London house, Century Hutchinson from 1985 and part of Random House's British group from 1989.
- Many Century novels are British editions of American books. Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park came out in the United States on 20 November 1990 and from Century in London in 1991, so the American printing is the true first and the Century copy is the first UK edition.
- On a number line the lowest number present gives the printing, so a first printing keeps the 1.
- UNVERIFIED: the British price is printed on the jacket (Jurassic Park was £13.99 net), and an unclipped jacket is preferred.
- UNVERIFIED: Century copyright pages read "First published in Great Britain by Century in [year]", and later printings add a reprint statement or drop the 1 from the number line.
- UNVERIFIED: as a Random House UK imprint, Century would have followed the group's 1994 change to a 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 number line.
From 2000
Century is now an imprint of Penguin Random House UK.
UNVERIFIED: it follows the group's UK practice of a "First published" statement above a number line in which a first printing keeps the 1.
Book club copies usually have no price on the jacket and may carry a small blind stamp in the lower right corner of the back cover; they are sometimes smaller and on cheaper paper than the trade edition.
Before 1920 These are Century Company books from New York. - UNVERIFIED: as with most publishers of this period, a first edition normally has a dated title page matching the copyright date, with no mention of earlier printings. - UNVERIFIED: Century Company books of the 1910s often carry a line such as "Published, October, 1911" on the back of the title page, which helps date the first printing. 1
How many Century books does MyVolumes track?
We track 158 editions published by Century, 51 of them first editions, across 157 books.
