Absolute Press (renamed Bloomsbury Absolute in 2018) is a specialist food and drink publisher, founded by British publisher Jon Croft in 1979.

Recipe collections from chefs

In 1980 Absolute Press launched a series of cookery books featuring recipes gathered from leading UK restaurant chefs. The series is regarded as being instrumental in laying the foundation for the chef publishing model that was to follow. In 1982 Absolute Press published Bristol chef Keith Floyd’s first cookbook, ''Floyd’s Food''. Further Floyd books followed, co-published with BBC books, including TV tie-ins ''Floyd on Fish'' and ''Floyd on Fire'', which became break out bestsellers and helped establish Keith Floyd as a TV celebrity chef worldwide. Chefs and cookery writers that have been published by Absolute Press include

David Chang David Chang (Korean: ; born August 5, 1977) is an American restaurateur, author, podcaster, and television personality. He is the founder of the Momofuku restaurant group. In 2009, Momofuku Ko was awarded two Michelin stars, which the restaur ...

, Tom Kerridge, Rick Bayless,

Angela Hartnett Angela Maria Hartnett (born September 1968) is an English Michelin-starred chef. A protégée of Gordon Ramsay who became well known by her appearances on British television, she was Chef-Patron at Angela Hartnett at The Connaught in London. Cu ...

Mort Rosenblum Mort Rosenblum (born 1943), is an American author, editor and journalist. Biography Rosenblum directs Reporting Unlimited, which includes the Mort Report: Non-Prophet Journalism, magazine assignments and book projects. Since 1963, he has reporte ...

, Ben Tish,

Atul Kochhar Atul Kochhar (born 31 August 1969) is an Indian-born, British-based chef and television personality. Kochhar was one of the first two Indian chefs to receive a Michelin star, awarded in London in 2001 whilst at Tamarind. He opened his own resta ...

Amanda Hesser Amanda Hesser (born 1971) is an American food writer, editor, cookbook author and entrepreneur. Most notably, she was the food editor of ''The New York Times Magazine'', the editor of '' T Living'', a quarterly publication of ''The New York Times'' ...

, David Everitt-Matthias, Calum Franklin, Mitch Tonks, Phil Howard and Vivek Singh.

Absolute Classics

In 1988 Absolute Classics was launched. A series made up of foreign language plays, many of them neglected and overlooked classics, translated and adapted into English by leading English language playwrights. Playwrights whose translations and adaptations were published in the series included

Nick Dear Nick Dear (born 11 June 1955) is an English writer for stage, screen and radio. He received a BAFTA for his first screenwriting credit, a film adaptation of Jane Austen's '' Persuasion''. Education Dear graduated with a degree in Comparative ...

David Hare David Hare may refer to: *David Hare (philanthropist) (1775–1842), Scottish philanthropist *David Hare (artist) (1917–1992), American sculptor and photographer *David Hare (playwright) (born 1947), English playwright and theatre and film direc ...

Ranjit Bolt Ranjit Bolt OBE (born 1959) is a British playwright and translator. He was born in Manchester of Anglo-Indian parents and is the nephew of playwright and screenwriter Robert Bolt.Programme notes for ''The Grouch'', West Yorkshire Playhouse Feb ...

, Timberlake Wertenbaker,

Adrian Mitchell Adrian Mitchell FRSL (24 October 1932 – 20 December 2008) was an English poet, novelist and playwright. A former journalist, he became a noted figure on the British Left. For almost half a century he was the foremost poet of the country's Cam ...

, Neil Bartlett,

David Rudkin James David Rudkin (born 29 June 1936) is an English playwright . Early life Rudkin was born in London. Coming from a family of strict evangelical Christians, he was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and read Mods and Greats at St C ...

Jatinder Verma Jatinder Verma, MBE (born 1954), is a British theatre director and activist, who in 1977 co-founded the British Asian theatre company Tara Arts, leading it as artistic director.Bosanquet, Theo (15 January 2020)"Big Interviews: Jatinder Verma" ''Th ...

, Charles Wood, Peter Hall,

Olwen Wymark Olwen Margaret Wymark (née Buck, 14 February 1932 – 14 June 2013) was an American writer and playwright. Biography Olwen Margaret Buck was born on 14 February 1932 in Oakland, California, the daughter of Philip W. (a professor of political s ...

. Absolute Classics was sold to

Oberon Books Oberon Books is a London-based independent publisher of drama texts and books on theatre. The company publishes around 100 titles per year, many of them plays by new writers. In addition, the list contains a range of titles on theatre studies, act ...

in 1996.

Outlines

In 1997 Absolute Press launched Outlines, a short-lived but well received series of monographs on leading gay, bisexual and lesbian creative artists. The stated aim of the series was to explore how artists’ sexuality might inform their creative output. Titles published included ''Bessie Smith'' by

Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay, (born 9 November 1961), is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Guardian Fictio ...

, ''Michael Field'' by Emma Donoghue, ''Quentin Crisp'' by Tim Fountain, ''David Hockney'' by Peter Adam, ''Armistead Maupin'' by

Patrick Gale Patrick Evelyn Hugh Sadler Gale (born 31 January 1962) is a British novelist. Early life Gale was born in 1962 on the Isle of Wight, the youngest of four children. His father was the prison governor of HM Prison Camp Hill on the Isle of Wight, ...

and ''Benjamin Britten'' by

Michael Wilcox Michael Wilcox is a British playwright. He was resident playwright at the Dovecot Arts Centre in Stockton-on-Tees for the 1977 season. In 1980, he was resident playwright at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. In 2008, he signed a letter against B ...

Bloomsbury Publishing

In 2011 Jon Croft sold Absolute Press to the British Harry Potter publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

. Croft was retained as a Consultant Publisher to commission food and drink books on behalf of Bloomsbury for the Absolute list. In 2012 Croft signed two Michelin star chef Tom Kerridge to Absolute, following which a string of bestselling cookery books from Kerridge followed, including ''Proper Pub Food'', ''Best Ever Dishes'', ''Lose Weight for Good'', ''The Hand & Flowers Cookbook'' and ''Outdoor Cooking''. Croft and Kerridge developed a professional and personal friendship that has seen the Absolute imprint establish Kerridge as Bloomsbury’s most successful author after JK Rowling.The Bookseller

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Absolute Press Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom Publishing companies established in the 1970s Publishing companies established in 1979