Collection (publishing)
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book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, news ...
, a collection or, more precisely, editorial collection (french: collection éditoriale; es, colección editorial; it, collana editoriale; pt, coleção de livros, translation=collection of books), is a set of books published by the same publisher, usually written by various authors, each book with its own
title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...
, but all grouped under the same collective title. The collective title is the title of the collection, it must be mentioned on each book. The books that make up an editorial collection can be published in a specific order or not. When each
volume Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). Th ...
in the collection has a serial number, it is called a numbered collection. A collection generally using distinctive, common formats and features. The title of a collection can be accompanied by the term "
series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...
" or its equivalents in other languages, such as in the English-speaking world, for example, the "
Bibliothèque de la Pléiade The ''Bibliothèque de la Pléiade'' (, "Pleiades Library") is a French editorial collection which was created in 1931 by Jacques Schiffrin, an independent young editor. Schiffrin wanted to provide the public with reference editions of the c ...
", " Découvertes Gallimard" and "
Que sais-je? "Que sais-je?" (QSJ) (; Literally: "What do I know?", ) is an editorial collection published by the Presses universitaires de France (PUF). The aim of the series is to provide the lay reader with an accessible introduction to a field of study wr ...
" are all termed "book series" instead of collections. Conversely, Thames & Hudson's "
World of Art ''World of Art'' (formerly known as ''The World of Art Library'') is a long established series of pocket-sized art books from the British publisher Thames & Hudson, comprising over 300 titles as of 2021. The books are typically around 200 pag ...
" series was published as a collection in France and Spain.


Brief history

In
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the concept of "collection" was invented by
Louis Hachette Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ...
, a 19th-century publisher, under the name , which means "library". In 19th and early 20th-century
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, literary collection publishings such as "", "", "" and "" were in full swing. The "
Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig (Spanish for 'Illustrated Library of Gaspar y Roig') is an editorial collection published by Gaspar y Roig since 1851, in Madrid, Spain, under the direction of . Overview The ''Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig'' is a collection of cheap ...
", created in 1851 in
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, notably for its encyclopaedialike contents. It contains not only the literary works (popular novels of the 19th century), but also reference work (dictionary),
Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent F ...
's ''
Histoire Naturelle The ''Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi'' (; en, Natural History, General and Particular, with a Description of the King's Cabinet, italic=yes) is an encyclopaedic collection of 36 large (qu ...
'',
Cesare Cantù Cesare Cantù (; December 5, 1804 – March 11, 1895) was an Italian historian. Biography Cantù was born December 5, 1804 at Brivio, in Lombardy. He studied in Milan, at the College of St. Alexander Barnabite, and began his career as a teacher. ...
's ,
Juan de Mariana Juan de Mariana, , also known as Father Mariana (25 September 1536 – 17 February 1624), was a Spanish Jesuit priest, Scholastic, historian, and member of the Monarchomachs. Life Juan de Mariana was born in Talavera, Kingdom of Toledo. He st ...
's ... and it even contains the whole Bible in Spanish (). In
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, the first editorial collection was the "Collana historica" (or "Collana historica de' Greci"), which included vulgarised works of twelve Greek historians, edited by the 16th-century humanist Tommaso Porcacchi and printed in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
by
Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari (c. 1508 – 1578) was a 16th-century Italian printer active in Venice. He was one of the first major publishers of literature in the vernacular Italian language. Early life and career Giolito was born at Trino to ...
from 1563 to 1585. They gave it this metaphorical use of the term: each work is a "ring" or "joy" of the (''collana'' originally means "necklace"). In
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, the ""—a collection of
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
novels and short stories—appeared in 1953, created by the Portuguese publisher , which aimed to be a pioneer in the popularization of the genre in the country. In
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, the "boom of collections" took place in a context of impressive growth of the publishing market. If the publication of collections was still thin on the ground in the 1920s, it would eventually rise and spread in the 30s. In
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
, the "" (), a pocket-sized collection, was created by the folklorist in 1895.


Definition

A collection is characterized by having uniformity in the presentation, as well as by a certain affinity in the contents. The use of the same dimension for each book, the same type of cover, and also the same type of spine. In this regard, sometimes the same colours are used on the cover (in the case of the publishers
Dalloz Dalloz is a French publisher that specializes in legal matters and is France's main legal publisher. It was founded by Désiré Dalloz and his brother Armand in 1845. Dalloz was acquired by Groupe de La Cite in 1989. CEP acquired almost complete ...
and ), and sometimes different colours or details are always systematically used (collection "Bibliothèques" of the Éditions du ). Generally, the grammage of paper for each collection is always the same, as well as the typography applied, the cover design and page layout (collection " Découvertes Gallimard"). Certain collections even get to fix the number of pages, for example, the books in the collection "
Que sais-je? "Que sais-je?" (QSJ) (; Literally: "What do I know?", ) is an editorial collection published by the Presses universitaires de France (PUF). The aim of the series is to provide the lay reader with an accessible introduction to a field of study wr ...
" always have 128 pages. A collection can be further subdivided into several
series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...
or sub-collections, for example, the collection "Découvertes Gallimard" contains seven series as well as several sub-collections. The volumes of a collection are also characterized by a defined content or style. Thus, a literary collection will have, for example, novels in their original language, translated works, works with literary value of national authors, or regroup texts of a certain subject or a certain genre, et cetera. In terms of reference works, there are collections of school or university textbooks, collections of research works and of practical books. Some collections are distinguished by a very strong orientation towards specialisation, such as collections on the study of
Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...
, on
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
, on pharmacy,
astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
... others inversely by an encyclopaedic tendency (in the case of "Découvertes Gallimard"). Some collections include both literary texts and reference texts, such as "
Le Livre de Poche Le Livre de Poche (literally "The Pocket Book") is the name of a collection of publications which first appeared on 9 February 1953 under the leadership of and published by the , a subsidiary of Hachette. In terms of its influence on the mainstr ...
", others are specialised in
classic book A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cla ...
s. Undoubtedly, a publication in a collection format has its importance in terms of marketing. Given that a collection is characterized by a visual unity, with successive editions and with the help of promotion, it can even lead to a degree of fidelity of the public, which obviously supports the commercial success. In many publishing houses, the tasks of selection of works and programming in general fall under the orbit of the "director of collection". Certain collections have had such fame, that sometimes they are considered or can be considered almost as independent publishing houses, such is the case with the "
Bibliothèque de la Pléiade The ''Bibliothèque de la Pléiade'' (, "Pleiades Library") is a French editorial collection which was created in 1931 by Jacques Schiffrin, an independent young editor. Schiffrin wanted to provide the public with reference editions of the c ...
" edited by
Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by Ga ...
.


Collection and series

Although the two are similar in many ways, editorial collection and book series differ because books in a collection do not necessarily have a specific order, or a common subject, but with a certain affinity in the content of books (collections on art, on religion, on science...), as well as in the
format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...
, spine and
layout Layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), a proposed page layout presented by a designer to their client * Layout (computing), the process of calculating the position of obj ...
, even grammage, number of pages and
style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
of
typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are list of type ...
. A collection can include one or more sub-collections or series (as in the case of 's "Biblioteca Básica de Historia", and Gallimard's " Découvertes"). A publisher mainly creates a collection according to its editorial line or for commercial reasons. While books in a series generally have a common subject, character, or universe, in other words, it's a set of volumes that are related to each other by certain thematic element, and volumes may or may not have a specific order within a series. A series can also include one or more sub-series.


See also

*
Serial (publishing) In publishing and library and information science, the term serial is applied to materials "in any medium issued under the same title in a succession of discrete parts, usually numbered (or dated) and appearing at regular or irregular intervals ...
* Monographic series *
Books in France As of 2018, five firms in France rank among the world's biggest publishers of books in terms of revenue: , Groupe Albin Michel, Groupe Madrigall (including Éditions Gallimard), Hachette Livre (including Éditions Grasset), and Martinière Grou ...
*
Books in Italy Italy is the home of two of the world's biggest publishers of books in terms of revenue: Messaggerie Italiane and Mondadori Libri. Other large publishers include De Agostini Editore, Feltrinelli and the RCS MediaGroup. History Early printing ...
* Books in Spain *
History of the book in Brazil The history of the book in Brazil focuses on the development of the access to publishing resources and acquisition of the book in the country, covering a period extending from the beginning of the editorial activity during colonization to today's ...


References

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