Fontana is the same house as Fontana/Collins; the marks below are its.
Fontana numbered its books in one continuous sequence, with the number shown on the spine; checklists keyed to these numbers are the standard way to date a Fontana title.
Publisher
Fontana
Fontana was the paperback imprint launched by William Collins in 1953, known for the Fontana Modern Masters series, which passed to HarperCollins in 1990.
- Editions tracked
- 75
- First editions
- 6
- Books
- 75
- Years
- 1890 to 1998
Fontana is a publisher active from 1890. We track 75 editions it published between 1890 and 1998, 6 of them first editions across 75 books. How Fontana/Collins marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Fontana
Fontana was the paperback imprint of the Glasgow and London publisher William Collins, Sons, launched as Fontana Books in 1953 and carried into HarperCollins after 1990.
Collins started Fontana as a paperback series and developed it into a full imprint with its own named series. These included Fontana Monarchs, a Fontana African Fiction series and, from 12 January 1970, the Fontana Modern Masters, short guides to twentieth-century writers and thinkers edited by the critic Frank Kermode, which Kermode said students bought in quantity. Collins also used the related names Fontana Lions and Fontana Young Lions.
In 1983 Collins bought Granada Publishing and gathered Granada's paperback lines under the new Grafton name, which sat alongside Fontana. News Corporation bought Collins in 1989, and in 1990 Collins merged with Harper & Row to form HarperCollins, and Collins became a HarperCollins imprint.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Fontana's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Fontana first editions
Authors
Books
Published by Fontana
Frequently asked questions
How many Fontana books does MyVolumes track?
We track 75 editions published by Fontana, 6 of them first editions, across 75 books.
Where these facts come from
- William Collins, Sons, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Fontana Modern Masters, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Grafton (publisher), 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.