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Random House

Random House, Inc. is the world's largest English-language general trade book publisher. It is owned since 1998 by the large German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing.

Random House, U.S.A.

Random House was founded in 1925BERTELSMANN'S CLUBS GO TO RANDOM HOUSE by Americans Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, when they acquired the Modern Library imprint. Cerf is quoted as saying, "We just said we were going to publish a few books on the side at random," which suggested the name Random House.

Bennet Alfred Cerf Biography

Its American imprints currently include the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, the Crown Publishing Group including Three Rivers Press, the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, the Knopf Publishing Group, the Random House Audio Publishing Group, the Random House Diversified Publishing Group, the Random House Information Group, the Random House Ballantine Publishing Group, and Random House Ventures. Del Rey Manga publishes English manga in North America.

Random House entered reference publishing in 1947 with the American College Dictionary, which was followed in 1966 by its first unabridged dictionary. Today it publishes the Random House Dictionary of the English Language and Random House Webster's College dictionaries, probably the main competitors for Merriam-Webster reference titles.

The distinguished American publishers Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and Pantheon Books were acquired by Random House in 1960 and 1961, respectively; works continue to be published under these imprints with editorial independence, such as Everyman's Library, a series of classical literature reprints. Random House has been the distributor for Shambhala Publications since 1974. They also currently distribute Rizzoli Books, National Geographic Books, Steerforth Press, Wizards of the Coast, Vertical Books, Welcome Books, New York Review of Books, Titan Books, Other Press, Hatherleigh Press and DC Comics. In 1998, Bertelsmann AG bought Random House and it soon went global.Random House Company History, from http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Random-House-Inc-Company-History.html. Accessed April 13, 2008.

The publisher's main U.S. office is located at 1745 Broadway in Manhattan, in the 684-foot Random House Tower, completed in 2003 and spanning the entire west side of the block between West 55th Street and west 56th. Its lobby showcases floor-to-ceiling glassed-in bookcases filled with books published by the company's many imprints.

Random House, UK

In the United Kingdom, the Random House Group Limited comprises four divisions with different publishing remits: Random House, Transworld, Ebury Publishing and Random House Children's Books. Its imprints include Jonathan Cape, Harvill Secker, Chatto and Windus, Vintage together with Vintage Classics, The Bodley Head, Pimlico, Yellow Jersey, Century, Hutchinson, Arrow, Random House Audio Books, Random House Business Books, Ebury Press, Vermilion, Rider, Bantam Press, Doubleday, Tamarind, Corgi, Black Swan, Fodor, Time Out, WaterBrook Press and Mainstream.

It also owns Tanoshimi, which publishes English manga in the United Kingdom and Ireland. One imprint in the Random House Children's Books division is Dell Laurel-Leaf Books, which publishes young adult novels. The name is a carryover from Dell Publishing, formerly a separate company from Random House. Other subsidiaries include Mandarin Publishing, which focuses on titles in speculative fiction.

The UK Random House offices are based in Pimlico and Ealing, both in London.

Random House, Germany

Verlagsgruppe Random House is the second largest book publisher in Germany with more than 35 imprints as of July 2008, including historic publishing houses Goldmann and Heyne. It is headquartered in Munich.

Random House, Canada

Random House of Canada was established in 1944 as the Canadian distributor of Random House Books. In 1986 the company established its own indigenous Canadian publishing program that has become one of the most successful in Canadian history.

Random House elsewhere

Random House also operates branches in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and South Korea. Random House Korea web site In Australia offices are in Sydney and Melbourne. In New Zealand it is based in Glenfield, Auckland, while Random House's Indian headquarters are located in New Delhi.

Subsidiaries and affiliates

Anchor Books

Del Rey Manga (itself an imprint of Del Rey Books)

The Doubleday Publishing Group

Ebury Press

Rider

Villard (1983)

Xlibris

External links

Random House official website in the U.S.

Random House official website in the UK

Random House official website in Germany

Random House official website in Canada

Random House official website in Australia

Random House official website for the Transworld division in the UK

Random House official recruiting website in the U.S.

Random House careers and recruiting website in the UK

Biography of Bennett Cerf with the quote on the origin of the Random House name

Bertelsmann official website

Official website for Random House UK imprint Ebury Publishing

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