I am delighted to announce that the new Bloomsbury Literary Studies catalogue, now also including The Arden Shakespeare and Methuen Drama, has published! You can read it online here. As you will have noticed, for the first time this catalogue is coming out under the Bloomsbury name instead of the separate Continuum and Bloomsbury Academic imprints. We wanted to give you some background to this rebranding. In 2008, Bloomsbury decided to invest in building a new academic division. Growth since that decision was taken has been very rapid: we now publish around 1,100 titles each year, with a particularly big presence in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and our backlist comprises some 20,000 titles. The purchase of Continuum in 2011 was a key part of this growth.
We believe we are stronger as a group, which is why we have taken the strategic decision to adopt the Bloomsbury name for all academic titles that we publish. With effect from 1st September 2012, all new Continuum titles will be published under the Bloomsbury brand, although we will be retaining the Methuen Drama and The Arden Shakespeare imprints given the rich history of publishing excellence associated with these names. This will make it easier for you to find quality publishing in literary studies, rather than navigating across a number of imprints.
The values of Continuum, Bloomsbury Academic, The Arden Shakespeare and other imprints which you have appreciated over the years are already integral to the larger entity that is Bloomsbury. Much has changed over the past 12 months, but we remain as committed to our authors and to publishing the same high quality textbooks, course books, primary texts, research monographs, reference works, professional and general interest books, journals and online resources.
Publishing in Print and Digital
Bloomsbury leads the way in digital publishing, for example with the launch of Drama Online in spring 2013 (p.53). Featuring the pre-eminent drama titles from the Methuen Drama, The Arden Shakespeare and Faber and Faber lists it will form a collection of the most studied, performed and critically acclaimed plays from the last two and half thousand years. In addition, expert student guidance in the form of scholarly notes, annotated texts, critical analysis and contextual information alongside performance and practitioner texts and video and audio material, will make this an essential study tool meeting the full range of drama teaching needs. Visit www.dramaonlinelibrary.com for more information.
Highlights
We are also proud to be presenting a very strong selection of new books for readers at all levels: from a new edition of Peter Barry’s English in Practice (p.3) for students embarking on undergraduate study for the first time, through to cutting edge scholarly research. Other highlights include two new titles in our Arvon series of creative writing guides covering Crime and Thriller Writing and Literary Non-Fiction (p.49), as well as Estimating Emerson (p.29), an anthology of critical responses to the great American writer’s work. Do check out the latest titles in the third series of the prestigious The Arden Shakespeare, too, including new editions of Coriolanus and Romeo and Juliet (p.55).
New Website
Finally we are delighted to announce that our new global website www.bloomsbury.com will launch in mid November 2012.
This site will bring together everything under the Bloomsbury Group, including Continuum, The Arden Shakespeare, Methuen Drama, Berg, T&T Clark, Bristol Classical Press, and A&C Black titles. The site features enhanced academic functionality such as online previews, digital inspection copies, textbook companion sites and online resources. We will let you know when it is up and running!
We hope you enjoy reading about our 2013 publishing as much as we have enjoyed commissioning it!
Bloomsbury Literary Studies