Headline, a London trade publisher founded in 1986, took over Hodder & Stoughton in 1993 and is now part of Hachette; its first impressions show a number row that still includes the 1.
Headline Publishing Group is a publisher based in London, founded in 1986. We track 273 editions it published between 1987 and 2025, 66 of them first editions across 273 books. How Headline Publishing Group marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Headline Publishing Group
Headline Publishing Group is a London trade publisher co-founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson and now part of Hachette UK.
Headline floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1991 and was named publisher of the year in 1992. In 1993 it bought the much older house Hodder & Stoughton, and the combined business, Hodder Headline, was at the time the fourth-largest publisher in Britain. W H Smith took over Hodder Headline in 1999 after an agreed bid of about 185 million pounds, and in 2004 Hely Hutchinson arranged the sale of W H Smith's publishing arm to Hachette Livre, which he then ran as Hachette UK until he retired in 2017.
Headline continues as a brand within Hachette UK, with imprints including Headline, Headline Review, Tinder Press, Wildfire and Headline Eternal. It published the British first edition of Neil Gaiman's American Gods in June 2001, and its Tinder Press imprint published Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet in March 2020, which won the Women's Prize for Fiction that year. Authors featured on its imprint page include Harlan Coben and Simon Scarrow.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Headline Publishing Group's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Headline Publishing Group first editions
What to look for
Headline is a modern British trade house, so a first impression is judged mainly by the number row on the copyright page.
1980s to 1990s
Headline hardbacks carry a number row printed as "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"; a complete row that still includes the 1 marks the first impression, as on Koontz's Sole Survivor and Demon Seed (1997) and Gaiman's Stardust (1999).
UNVERIFIED: the copyright page also has a "First published in Great Britain" line with the year, which stays on reprints, so only the number row shows the impression.
UNVERIFIED: Headline also issued its own mass-market paperbacks of these titles, some reprinted many times, so a Headline paperback of a book first issued in Headline hardback is a later edition.
From 2000
Some titles came out in the same year from Headline in London and from an American house, each counting as the first edition for its own country: American Gods appeared in 2001 from Headline and from William Morrow in New York.
UNVERIFIED: Headline and its imprints have kept the same number row practice, with the 1 present on first impressions.
How do I identify a Headline Publishing Group first edition?
Headline is a modern British trade house, so a first impression is judged mainly by the number row on the copyright page. 1980s to 1990s - Headline hardbacks carry a number row printed as "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"; a complete row that still includes the 1 marks the first impression, as on Koontz's Sole Survivor and Demon Seed (1997) and Gaiman's Stardust (1999). - UNVERIFIED: the copyright page also
How many Headline Publishing Group books does MyVolumes track?
We track 273 editions published by Headline Publishing Group, 66 of them first editions, across 273 books.
