Transworld Publishers is a Penguin Random House UK division set up in 1950 as Bantam Books' British branch, home of Doubleday UK, Bantam Press and Corgi. Its recent hardback firsts carry a number line and a front-flap jacket price.
Transworld Publishers is a publisher based in London, founded in 1950. We track 205 editions it published between 1929 and 2025, 59 of them first editions across 205 books. How Transworld Publishers marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Transworld Publishers
Transworld Publishers is a London publishing division of Penguin Random House UK, based in Ealing. It was set up in 1950 as the British branch of the American paperback house Bantam Books.
Its lists include Doubleday for hardbacks, Corgi and Black Swan for paperbacks, Bantam Press for hardbacks and better-quality paperbacks, Bantam, and Wayward TxF, a fantasy, romantasy and young adult list run with FairyLoot. Penguin calls Doubleday Transworld's small literary imprint, with Terry Pratchett, Kate Atkinson, John Boyne, Rachel Joyce and Bill Bryson among its writers, while Bantam's commercial list includes Dan Brown, Lee Child, Paula Hawkins, Sophie Kinsella and Jilly Cooper. Transworld backs the Terry Pratchett First Novel Award and has won Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards four times.
Its ownership tracked Bantam's. The German group Bertelsmann took half of Bantam in 1977 and all of it in 1980, bought Doubleday in 1986 to form Bantam Doubleday Dell and bought Random House in 1998. Transworld therefore sat in the Random House group, which joined Penguin on 1 July 2013 to form Penguin Random House; Bertelsmann became its sole owner in 2020.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Transworld Publishers's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Transworld Publishers first editions
What to look for
Before 1950
Transworld was set up in 1950, so a Transworld copy of a book with an earlier publication date is a later edition of a book first issued by some other publisher.
1950s to 1980s
1990s
Transworld hardback jackets print the price on the front flap (£9.99 on Lee Child's Killing Floor, Bantam Press 1997), so a fine first should have that flap unclipped.
From 2010
Doubleday hardbacks carry a number line, and the lowest number shows the printing, so a first printing includes 1; dealers describe the 2013 Doubleday first of Terry Pratchett's Raising Steam as having a full line including 1.
The jacket price stays on the front flap (£20.00 on Raising Steam).
How do I identify a Transworld Publishers first edition?
Before 1950 Transworld was set up in 1950, so a Transworld copy of a book with an earlier publication date is a later edition of a book first issued by some other publisher. 1950s to 1980s 1990s - Transworld hardback jackets print the price on the front flap (£9.99 on Lee Child's Killing Floor , Bantam Press 1997), so a fine first should have that flap unclipped. From 2010 - Doubleday hardbacks ca
How many Transworld Publishers books does MyVolumes track?
We track 205 editions published by Transworld Publishers, 59 of them first editions, across 205 books.
