Zondervan
Zondervan is a Christian publisher from Grand Rapids, Michigan, founded in 1931 by Pat and Bernard Zondervan, known for the NIV Bible and owned by HarperCollins since 1988.
- Editions tracked
- 37
- First editions
- 34
- Books
- 36
- Years
- 1958 to 2015
About Zondervan
Zondervan is an American Christian publisher based in the Grand Rapids area of Michigan, founded in 1931 and owned by HarperCollins since 1988.
Brothers Peter (Pat) and Bernard Zondervan, nephews of the religious publisher William B. Eerdmans, started the business in their family farmhouse in Grandville, a suburb of Grand Rapids. They began by selling remaindered stock and reprinting public domain titles; their first book was Abraham Kuyper's Women of the Old Testament in 1933.
From the late 1950s the firm moved into Bible publishing, with the Berkeley Version (1959) and the Amplified Bible (1965). Its defining project was the New International Version, produced with the International Bible Society: the NIV New Testament appeared in 1973 and the complete Bible in 1978, and Zondervan holds the commercial rights to the NIV in North America.
Among its best-known trade books are Hal Lindsey's The Late, Great Planet Earth (1970, written with Carole C. Carlson), Joni Eareckson Tada's Joni, Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life and Sally Lloyd-Jones's The Jesus Storybook Bible (2007). For some years it also ran a Christian music business.
HarperCollins, part of News Corp, bought Zondervan in 1988, and it now sits within HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Its imprints include Zondervan Academic, Zonderkidz and the Spanish-language Editorial Vida.
We have not yet written the guide to Zondervan's first-edition conventions. Until we do, check each book's own page: we list its points where we know them. Know how Zondervan marked its firsts? Tell us.
Authors
Series
Published by Zondervan
Frequently asked questions
How many Zondervan books does MyVolumes track?
We track 37 editions published by Zondervan, 34 of them first editions, across 36 books.
Where these facts come from
- Zondervan, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Zondervan (Q8073886), Wikidata (wikidata.org)
- The Late, Great Planet Earth, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 18 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.