Serif is an independent book publishing house based in

London, UK London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

, founded in 1992 by Stephen Hayward (1954–2015), who had previously been an editor with

Lawrence & Wishart Lawrence & Wishart is a British publishing company formerly associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. It was formed in 1936, through the merger of Martin Lawrence, the Communist Party's press, and Wishart Ltd, a family-owned Left-wing ...

Michèle Roberts Michèle Brigitte Roberts FRSL (born 20 May 1949) is a British writer, novelist and poet. She is the daughter of a French Catholic teacher mother (Monique Caulle) and English Protestant father (Reginald Roberts), and has dual UK–France nationa ...

"Obituary: Stephen Hayward (1954-2015)"
''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest ...

'', 27 November 2015. The company's list covers the subjects of history, politics, travel, culture and fiction, with book jackets — described as "works of art in themselves"Michael Eaude
"Stephen Hayward obituary"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 20 November 2015. — designed by

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle aroun ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Alongside original titles, reissues feature prominently in Serif's output, including

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

's 1932 account of his travels in Guiana and Brazil, ''92 Days'' (with an afterword by

Pauline Melville Pauline Melville FRSL (born 1948) is an English/Guyanese-born writer and former actor of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry, who is currently based in London, England. Among awards she has received for her writing – which encompasses short ...

George Dangerfield George Bubb Dangerfield (28 October 1904 in Newbury, Berkshire – 27 December 1986 in Santa Barbara, California) was a British-born American journalist, historian, and the literary editor of '' Vanity Fair'' from 1933 to 1935. He is known prima ...

's ''

The Strange Death of Liberal England ''The Strange Death of Liberal England'' is a book written by George Dangerfield and published in 1935. Its thesis is that the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom ruined itself in dealing with the House of Lords, women's suffrage, the Irish quest ...

'',

Norman Cohn Norman Rufus Colin Cohn British Academy, FBA (12 January 1915 – 31 July 2007) was a British Academia, academic, historian and writer who spent 14 years as a professorial fellow and as Astor-Wolfson Professor at the University of Sussex. Life C ...

's ''

Warrant for Genocide ''Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World-Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion'', by Norman Cohn, is a critical work about ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion''. This scholarly book explores the history, origin, and wo ...

'',

Jorge Semprún Jorge Semprún Maura (; 10 December 1923 – 7 June 2011) was a Spanish writer and politician who lived in France most of his life and wrote primarily in French. From 1953 to 1962, during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, Semprún lived clande ...

's ''The Cattle Truck'', works by

J. M. Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, collector of folklore, and a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival. His best known play ''The Playboy of the Western World'' was poorly r ...

, as well as significant cookery books such as '' The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook'' and the Glenfiddich Award-winning titles by Édouard de Pomiane, '' Cooking in Ten Minutes'' and ''Cooking with Pomiane''. Among other authors published by Serif are

Steve Aylett Steve Aylett (born 1967 in Bromley, United Kingdom) is an English author of satirical science fiction, fantasy, and slipstream. According to the critic Bill Ectric, "much of Aylett’s work combines the bawdy, action-oriented style of Voltaire wit ...

, Chitrita Banerji, Frances Bissell,

Gerald Brenan Edward FitzGerald "Gerald" Brenan, CBE, MC (7 April 1894 – 19 January 1987) was a British writer and hispanist who spent much of his life in Spain. Brenan is best known for '' The Spanish Labyrinth'', a historical work on the background t ...

E. H. Carr Edward Hallett Carr (28 June 1892 – 3 November 1982) was a British historian, diplomat, journalist and international relations theorist, and an opponent of empiricism within historiography. Carr was best known for '' A History of Soviet Rus ...

Nuruddin Farah Nuruddin Farah ( so, Nuuradiin Faarax, ar, نورالدين فارح) (born 24 November 1945) is a Somali novelist. His first novel, ''From a Crooked Rib'', was published in 1970 and has been described as "one of the cornerstones of modern East ...

Chenjerai Hove Chenjerai Hove (9 February 1956 – 12 July 2015), was a Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both English and Shona. "Modernist in their formal construction, but making extensive use of oral conventions, Hove's novels offer an in ...

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

and

George Rudé George Rudé (8 February 1910 – 8 January 1993) was a British Marxist historian, specializing in the French Revolution and " history from below", especially the importance of crowds in history.George Rudé (1964). ''The Crowd in History. A St ...

. Primarily a publisher of printed books, Serif began producing

e-books An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

in 2012.

Acquisition by OR Books

Subsequent to Stephen Hayward's death of a heart attack while on holiday in Almeria, Spain, in October 2015, it was announced in April 2016 that Serif had been acquired by

OR Books OR Books is a New York City-based independent publishing house founded by John Oakes and Colin Robinson in 2009. The company sells digital and print-on-demand books directly to the customer and focuses on creative promotion through traditional med ...

, whose co-founder Colin Robinson said: "I knew Serif's founder and publisher, Stephen Hayward, over many years. I always admired his approach to publishing and share his commitment to progressive books. We're delighted to be able to bring the Serif list under OR's wing and aim to develop the imprint in the adventurous, lively spirit with which Stephen ran it.""OR Books Acquires Serif Books"
''Shelf Awareness'', 15 April 2016.

Acquisition by OR Books

References

External links