- US Orbit first printings carry a full number line running down to 1 on the copyright page.
- Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice (2013) first printing has the line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.
Publisher · founded 1974
Orbit
Orbit is Hachette's science fiction and fantasy imprint, founded in London in 1974 and publisher of Iain M. Banks, Ann Leckie and The Expanse; its US list, begun in 2006, marks firsts with a number line to 1.
- Editions tracked
- 232
- First editions
- 119
- Books
- 205
- Years
- 1974 to 2025
Orbit was founded in 1974. We track 232 editions it published between 1974 and 2025, 119 of them first editions across 205 books. How Orbit marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Orbit
Orbit is a science fiction and fantasy publisher founded in 1974 as part of the Macdonald Futura group in London, and today part of Hachette, with lists in Britain, the United States, Australia and France.
Macdonald Futura was bought in 1992 by Little, Brown, then part of Time Warner, and in 1997 Orbit took over the Legend imprint from Random House. Time Warner sold Little, Brown to Hachette Livre in 2006. That year Orbit's publishing director Tim Holman moved to New York to set up Orbit US within Hachette Book Group; Orbit Australia followed in 2007 and a French list, through Calmann-Lévy, in 2009.
Its authors include Iain M. Banks, Joe Abercrombie, N. K. Jemisin, Ann Leckie, Kim Stanley Robinson and James S. A. Corey, the shared pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Orbit published Banks's Culture novel Use of Weapons (1990) and his collection The State of the Art (1991), Corey's Leviathan Wakes (2011), which opened the Expanse series later adapted for television, Leckie's first novel Ancillary Justice (2013), Jemisin's The Fifth Season (2015) and Robinson's The Ministry for the Future (2020).
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Orbit's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Orbit first editions
Authors
Books
Published by Orbit
Frequently asked questions
How many Orbit books does MyVolumes track?
We track 232 editions published by Orbit, 119 of them first editions, across 205 books.
Where these facts come from
- Orbit Books, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Leviathan Wakes (Orbit US, 2011), Author Wars publication record (authorwars.com)
- Ancillary Justice (Orbit US, 2013), Author Wars publication record (authorwars.com)
- Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie, Orbit 2013 signed first, Biblio (biblio.co.nz)
- Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey 2011, 1st Edition, Nocloo (nocloo.com)
- Against a Dark Background (Orbit), Author Wars publication record (authorwars.com)
- 84K (Orbit, 2018), Author Wars publication record (authorwars.com)
- Banks, Iain (1991) The State of the Art, UK signed first edition, First and Fine (firstandfine.com)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 3 November 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.