Orion Publishing Group is a London publisher founded in 1991 that took in Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Gollancz and has been wholly owned by Hachette since 2003. Modern Orion firsts carry a number line including 1.
Orion Publishing Group is a publisher based in London, founded in 1991. We track 437 editions it published between 1936 and 2025, 108 of them first editions across 435 books. How Orion Publishing Group marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Orion Publishing Group
Orion Publishing Group is a London trade publisher founded in 1991 by Anthony and Rosemary Cheetham. Its Orion Books list began in 1992, and it is now part of Hachette UK.
It grew quickly by buying older firms. The literary house Weidenfeld & Nicolson joined at the outset (sources give 1991 or 1992), and in 1993 Orion bought the assets of Chapman Publishers and the warehousing business Littlehampton Book Services. In December 1998 it acquired Cassell, which brought with it the Victor Gollancz imprint. Hachette Livre took a majority stake in 1998 and became sole owner in 2003, and Orion is now the largest single part of Hachette UK.
Current imprints include Gollancz, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Orion Fiction, Phoenix, Seven Dials, Trapeze, White Rabbit and Laurence King, while Orion Children's Books now belongs to Hachette Children's Group. Its fiction list is strong in crime, with Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly among its authors.
Because the group absorbed firms much older than itself, many books listed under the Orion name were first issued by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Gollancz or Cassell before Orion existed.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Orion Publishing Group's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Orion Publishing Group first editions
What to look for
What a collector should know first: Orion did not exist before 1991. Any book dated earlier that is listed under the group name belongs to one of the firms Orion later bought, or is a later Orion reissue of an older book, so read the imprint on the title page before anything else.
Before 1991
Books of this period were published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Victor Gollancz or Cassell, all of which came into Orion in the 1990s; judge them by that house's own practice, not Orion's.
From 1991
A copy with a number line that includes 1 is a first printing; the lowest number present gives the printing, so a line starting at 2 or higher is a later impression. Dealers routinely describe Orion firsts by a full number line on the copyright page.
A first printing has no "Reprinted" or later impression line on the copyright page.
Orion's own paperback editions that follow a hardback are firsts of that format ("first thus"), not first editions, even with a full number line.
Book club copies are reprints, not firsts; look for a book club mention on the jacket or copyright page.
How do I identify an Orion Publishing Group first edition?
What a collector should know first: Orion did not exist before 1991. Any book dated earlier that is listed under the group name belongs to one of the firms Orion later bought, or is a later Orion reissue of an older book, so read the imprint on the title page before anything else. Before 1991 - Books of this period were published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Victor Gollancz or Cassell, all of which c
How many Orion Publishing Group books does MyVolumes track?
We track 437 editions published by Orion Publishing Group, 108 of them first editions, across 435 books.
