About us | About Collins

Collins has been publishing educational and informative books since 1819. Drawing on this rich heritage, today Collins publishes education and language learning resources, dictionaries, atlases, general reference, and children’s nonfiction under the Collins imprint; plus, a range of renowned brands including A–Z, Barrington Stoke, Leckie, National Geographic Kids, National Trust, Times Books and Rocket Bird Books.

 

Educational publishing

We produce resources for UK and International curricula to support teachers and pupils at school and outside the classroom environment. 

 
Our educational publishing continues to deliver up-to-date and engaging student resources and exceptional teacher support to help schools tackle new initiatives and utilise the latest technology. 
 
Collins(and Leckie in Scotland) publish a full range of textbooks, digital resources, revision guides and teaching support for Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Further Education colleges across the majority of subject areas, with particular strengths in literacy and numeracy at Primary and English, Maths, Science and Sociology at Secondary. 
 
Our digital resources are delivered via The Collins Hub collinshub.co.uk, Collins Connect connect.collins.co.uk, and an ebook platform, OpenPage. We also have an adaptive learning resource for maths in primary, and for science, maths, geography and history at secondary: collinsadapt.co.uk.

Language publishing

With our database of over 4.5 billion words we are constantly monitoring text from publications, websites and transcripts around the world to ensure our dictionaries are up-to-date. The creation of Collinsdictionary.com, Collins’ free online dictionary, means that we now provide the sharpest snapshot of world languages. 
 
Collins is also home to bilingual dictionaries and language learning products, such as the Paul Noble audio courses, and the much-loved Gem phrasebooks. We also publish the official SCRABBLE dictionaries, a wide range of quiz books, and crossword books including both The Times and Bradford’s crossword series. 
 
In recent years we have grown our offering for learners of English as a foreign language with the Collins ELT range of publishing for teachers, students, and young learners. 
 
Digital innovations have seen us lead the way in language app and eBook development, so our content now fits the need of all users, wherever they are.

 

Geographic publishing

Our geographic publishing is a blend of traditional print, digital development, and cartographic services. Our flagship, The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, is recognised as the most prestigious and authoritative reference atlas, and the Times range as a whole is market leader in the UK, with the Collins atlas range a close second. 
 
Collins also publishes reference and non-fiction in broader interest areas such as walking, cycling, astronomy, history, and railways, often in partnership with world-renowned organisations like UNESCO, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and the Imperial War Museums. 
 
In 2020 we acquired the iconic street-mapping A-Z books and maps list and from 2021 the publishing rights for National Trust Books. 

Collins has developed a successful list of children's non-fiction books including the classic i-spy spotter's guides, puzzle books, the You Can guides and the Create Your Own happy series.  We also publish the National Geographic Kids list in the UK featuring the flagship annual Weird but True. 

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About Times Books

The Times world maps and atlases range have been in print for more than 100 years, since 1895. Today they are regarded as the world’s most prestigious and authoritative atlases and maps. 
 
The first ever Times world atlas was published in 1895 and simply called The Times Atlas, with maps produced by the German firm Velhagen & Klasing. In 1826, John Bartholomew set up business as a map engraver in Edinburgh and soon gained an international reputation for innovative cartography, high quality copper plate engraving and printing. The Times Publishing Co Ltd thus contracted Bartholomew to prepare a new home-produced world atlas, which became The Times Survey Atlas & Gazetteer of the World (1922). 
 
This was followed by The Times Atlas of the World Mid-Century Edition – published in five volumes between 1955 and 1960 – which set the standard for world atlas publishing. In 1967, this was re-worked into a single volume as The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World which is now in its 12th edition and continues to be the world’s leading reference atlas. 
 
In 1980 the company was bought by Reader’s Digest ending the direct involvement of the Bartholomew family. Following its purchase by News International in 1985, it became part of HarperCollins Publishers in 1989, along with Collins Publishers (UK) and Harper & Row (US). 
 
The business continues as the award-winning Collins Bartholomew, part of HarperCollins, upholding the authority, quality and excellence, so highly regarded by ‘Bartholomews’. Today the company employs a team of cartographers in its Glasgow office, dedicated to providing the most accurate and up-to-date maps available. 
 
Times maps and atlases are published by HarperCollins Publishers for The Times. 
 
For Collins Bartholomew digital mapping data, services and solutions, please visit their dedicated site: www.collinsbartholomew.com