Collins is a Glasgow publisher founded in 1819, home of the Collins Crime Club and Agatha Christie's British publisher from 1926, and part of HarperCollins since 1990.
Collins is a publisher based in Glasgow, founded in 1819. We track 740 editions it published between 1800 and 2022, 294 of them first editions across 737 books. How Collins marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Collins
Collins is the Glasgow publishing house founded in 1819 by William Collins, a Presbyterian schoolmaster, in partnership with Charles Chalmers; since 1990 it has been part of HarperCollins, where Collins continues as an imprint.
The firm began as a printer and publisher of religious and educational books. It issued its first dictionary in 1824 and its first atlas in 1856, and took the name William Collins, Sons and Co in 1868. It moved into fiction from 1917 under Sir Godfrey Collins.
For collectors the key period is the Collins Crime Club, which ran from 1930 to 1994. Collins became Agatha Christie's British publisher in 1926 and published all but her first six novels, so most Poirot and Marple first editions carry its imprint. It also published the first UK edition of T. H. White's The Sword in the Stone in 1938.
News Corporation bought a 40% stake in 1981 and became sole owner in 1989. In 1990 Collins was combined with the American publisher Harper & Row to form HarperCollins.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Collins's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Collins first editions
What to look for
Collins did not mark first editions or first impressions in any special way, so a Collins first, Crime Club titles included, carries no edition statement and is recognised by the absence of any later date and by the points for that title.
Collins told H. S. Boutell that it used no special method of designating first editions or first impressions, and the Ahearns' publisher list for ILAB likewise records no statement on Collins first editions. Crime Club books in the UK were a Collins imprint and follow the same rule.
Traps
"No edition stated" is not proof of a first. It only means Collins said nothing. A copy is a first when nothing on the title page or its reverse points to a later date and the points for the title agree.
The American Crime Club was Doubleday's imprint, not Collins's. Do not apply Collins rules to American Crime Club books.
Examples
A Collins Crime Club Agatha Christie of the 1930s carries no first edition statement. Treat it as a first only when the reverse of the title page shows no later impression or date and the points for that title agree.
Collins did not mark first editions or first impressions in any special way, so a Collins first, Crime Club titles included, carries no edition statement and is recognised by the absence of any later date and by the points for that title. - Collins told H. S. Boutell that it used no special method of designating first editions or first impressions, and the Ahearns' publisher list for ILAB likewise
How many Collins books does MyVolumes track?
We track 740 editions published by Collins, 294 of them first editions, across 737 books.
