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 set up in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson and now part of Hachette.
Its rise was quick. Headline joined the London Stock Exchange in 1991, was named publisher of the year in 1992 and in 1993 took over the much older Hodder & Stoughton. The combined business, Hodder Headline, was then the fourth largest publisher in Britain. W.H. Smith made an agreed bid of 185 million pounds for Hodder Headline in 1999, and in 2004 Hely Hutchinson arranged the sale of W.H. Smith's publishing arm to Hachette Livre; he stayed on at Hachette UK until he retired in December 2017.
Headline continues as a publisher within Hachette, with imprints including Headline, Headline Review, Headline Feature, Eternal Romance, Tinder Press and Wildfire. It published Dean Koontz in hardback in Britain in the 1990s, issued the British first of Neil Gaiman's Stardust in 1999 and published American Gods in Britain in 2001. Its Tinder Press imprint brought out Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet on 31 March 2020, and the novel won that year's Women's Prize for Fiction.
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).
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.
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). From 2000 - Some titles came out in th
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.
