- Collins did not adopt any special method of marking first editions or first impressions, according to its statements to H. S. Boutell.
- Collins said that when it issued a cheaper edition, the reverse of the title page recorded the date of the original edition and that of the cheap edition.
Publisher · founded 1819 · Glasgow
Collins
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.
- Editions tracked
- 733
- First editions
- 293
- Books
- 731
- Years
- 1800 to 2022
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
Authors
Books
Published by Collins
Worth£180 to £290
- 1st Collins1958 Hardback £180 to £290Sold £320 · Sep 2025 I own The Once and Future King, Collins 1958 Log in to want this
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify a Collins first edition?
- Collins did not adopt any special method of marking first editions or first impressions, according to its statements to H. S. Boutell. - Collins said that when it issued a cheaper edition, the reverse of the title page recorded the date of the original edition and that of the cheap edition.
How many Collins books does MyVolumes track?
We track 733 editions published by Collins, 293 of them first editions, across 731 books.
Where these facts come from
- William Collins, Sons, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- William Collins, Sons & Co 1819 - 1989, Science Museum Group Collection (collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk)
- The Sword in the Stone (novel), Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- First Editions of Today and How to Tell Them (3rd edn), H. S. Boutell, Internet Archive, 1949 (archive.org)
- First Edition Identification by Publisher, Allen and Patricia Ahearn, ILAB, 2010 (ilab.org)
- The Crime Club, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Murder in the Mews, Collecting Christie, 2020 (collectingchristie.com)
- Murder on the Orient Express, Collecting Christie (collectingchristie.com)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 20 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.