Viking

About Viking

Viking, originally The Viking Press, is an American publisher founded in New York City in 1925 by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer, and it is now an imprint of Penguin Random House in both the United States and Britain.

In August 1925 the new firm merged with B. W. Huebsch, Inc., and the combined business traded as The Viking Press, Inc. In 1933 it opened a children's department under the editor May Massee; its first title was The Story About Ping (1933), and Viking's children's list went on to include The Story of Ferdinand and Make Way for Ducklings. The adult list included John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac, Saul Bellow, Arthur Miller and Graham Greene, and Viking also ran the Viking Portable Library.

From 1979 Viking was the American hardback publisher of many Stephen King novels, including The Dead Zone (1979), Cujo (1981) and Different Seasons (1982).

Penguin bought Viking in 1975 for a reported 12 million dollars, after which the American company traded as Viking Penguin. Viking is now owned by Penguin Random House, while in Britain Viking is a Penguin General imprint.

How to identify Viking first editions

• Viking first printings carry no printing statement beyond the publication line, while later printings are recorded on the copyright page with their number or date, so any reprint note means a later printing.
• From the late 1930s onwards first printings typically read "First published in [year] by The Viking Press" (later "by Viking Penguin Inc.") or "Published in [year] by The Viking Press" on the copyright page; Viking's Stephen King firsts of 1979 to 1987 follow this pattern.

US first editions

A Viking first printing shows no note of a later printing on its copyright page, because Viking has always recorded each reprint there.

By period

• Before 1937 Viking usually printed no edition statement, but each reprint was noted on the copyright page with its date, so a copy with no reprint note is a first printing.
• From 1937 first printings typically read "First published by Viking in (year)", "Published by Viking in (year)" or a similar "First published" line, and later printings are listed beneath it.
• In the 1980s Viking added a number line to later printings only, so a first printing of that period may have no number line at all.

How to read it

• Count the lines under the publication statement. None means a first printing; any further printing line, however early its date, means a later printing. The publication date at the top stays on every reprint, so it is never the test.

Traps

• The 1980s number line works the other way round. On Viking books of that period a number line can itself mark a reprint, so do not expect to find a 1 on a first printing.
• Book club copies. A club jacket usually has no price on the front flap. Many club copies are smaller than the trade edition, but Book-of-the-Month Club copies are usually the same size and quality, so size alone is no guide: look also for a small blind stamp (a dot, circle or square) on the rear board. BOMC printed prices on some jackets in the 1970s, but those copies still carry the stamp.

Example

• The Grapes of Wrath (1939): the first printing reads "First Published in April 1939" on the copyright page with no later printing below it, and the first-issue jacket carries a "First Edition" notice.