Publisher
Michael Joseph
Michael Joseph is a London publisher founded in 1935 and part of Penguin since 1985. Its firsts carry a dated "First published" line, with later impressions listed beneath it.
- Editions tracked
- 136
- First editions
- 54
- Books
- 135
- Years
- 1936 to 2019
About Michael Joseph
Michael Joseph is a London publisher founded on 5 September 1935 by the bestselling author Michael Joseph, and it is now Penguin Michael Joseph, the commercial fiction and non-fiction imprint of Penguin Random House.
The company began as a subsidiary of Victor Gollancz Ltd, which put £4,000 into it. After disagreements, including Gollancz's attempt to censor Philip Gibbs's Across the Frontiers, Joseph bought out the Gollancz interest in 1938. Its authors included H. E. Bates, C. S. Forester, Monica Dickens, Richard Llewellyn, Paul Gallico, Richard Gordon, Vita Sackville-West and Derek Tangye. Michael Joseph first published John Wyndham's The Chrysalids (1955) and Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook (1962). After the founder's death his widow, Anthea Joseph, steered the firm through the difficulties that followed.
Penguin Books acquired the company in 1985, fifty years after both firms were founded. Today the imprint concentrates on women's fiction, crime and thrillers, cookery, memoir and lifestyle, with authors such as Marian Keyes, Jojo Moyes and Jamie Oliver.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Michael Joseph's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Michael Joseph first editions
Authors
Books
Published by Michael Joseph
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify a Michael Joseph first edition?
How many Michael Joseph books does MyVolumes track?
We track 136 editions published by Michael Joseph, 54 of them first editions, across 135 books.
Where these facts come from
- Michael Joseph (publisher), Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Penguin Michael Joseph, Penguin Books UK (penguin.co.uk)
- First Edition Identification by Publisher (Allen and Patricia Ahearn), ILAB (ilab.org)
- First Editions of Today and How to Tell Them, H. S. Boutell, Internet Archive, 1949 (archive.org)
- How to Tell If a Book Is a First Edition: Publisher Rules Checklist, Appraisily (appraisily.com)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 22 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.