Walker Books is the London children's publisher founded in 1978, home of Where's Wally?, Alex Rider and A Monster Calls. Look for a 1 in the number line and for a "This edition published" line, which marks a reissue.
Walker Books is a publisher based in London, founded in 1978. We track 309 editions it published between 1963 and 2024, 122 of them first editions across 306 books. How Walker Books marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Walker Books
Walker Books is a British children's publisher based in London. Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards and Wendy Boase founded it in 1978.
Edwards served as the firm's art director, work for which she received the Eleanor Farjeon Award in 2001, and Helen Oxenbury drew its logo of a bear carrying a candle. Money from the Where's Wally? books helped Walker cross the Atlantic, and its American sister company, Candlewick Press, began in 1991. Walker Books Australia followed in 1993.
The list includes some of the best known British children's books of recent decades. Walker first published Anthony Horowitz's Stormbreaker, the opening Alex Rider novel, on 4 September 2000, with the American edition following from Puffin in May 2001. It also first published Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls, with pictures by Jim Kay, on 5 May 2011. In 2012 that book won the Carnegie Medal for its text and the Kate Greenaway Medal for its illustrations, and it remains the only book to have taken both.
In 2020 Trustbridge Global Media bought Walker Books along with Candlewick Press and the Australian business.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Walker Books's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Walker Books first editions
What to look for
Before 1978
Walker Books was founded in 1978, so a Walker copy dated earlier is a reissue or a misdated record, not a Walker first. Do not confuse it with Walker and Co., an unrelated firm with its own entry in dealer guides.
1980s to 1990s
Walker is a British trade publisher, and the general number line rule applies: a 1 anywhere in the row normally means a first printing, and the smallest number present gives the printing, whatever the order.
A "first" statement is not enough on its own, because some houses leave it on later printings. Check the number line as well.
From 2000
The same number line rule applies.
A Walker book may also exist in an American edition, from Candlewick Press (the sister company since 1991) or another US house. Stormbreaker came out from Walker on 4 September 2000 and from Puffin in the United States on 21 May 2001, so compare dates before calling either the first edition.
Before 1978 - Walker Books was founded in 1978, so a Walker copy dated earlier is a reissue or a misdated record, not a Walker first. Do not confuse it with Walker and Co., an unrelated firm with its own entry in dealer guides. 1980s to 1990s - Walker is a British trade publisher, and the general number line rule applies: a 1 anywhere in the row normally means a first printing, and the smallest nu
How many Walker Books books does MyVolumes track?
We track 309 editions published by Walker Books, 122 of them first editions, across 306 books.
