Random House

Random House is a publishing division of the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG, which acquired it in 1998. It was founded in 1927 by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, two years after they had acquired the Modern Library imprint. Cerf is quoted as saying, "We just said we were going to publish a few books on the side at random," which suggested the name Random House.

Related Topics:
Publishing - Bertelsmann AG - 1927 - Bennett Cerf - Donald Klopfer - Modern Library - Imprint

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Its imprints currently include, in the US, the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, the Crown Publishing Group, the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, the Knopf Publishing Group, the Random House Audio Publishing Group, , the Random House Diversified Publishing Group, the Random House Information Group, the Random House Ballantine Publishing Group, and Random House Ventures. It also has a division called Del Rey Manga, which publishes manga in English in North America. In the UK, its imprints include Jonathan Cape, Secker and Warburg, Chatto and Windus, Vintage, Pimlico, Yellow Jersey, Century, Willian Heinemann, Hutchinson, Arrow, Random House Audio Books, Random House Business Books, Ebury Press, Vermillion, Rider, Bantam Press, Doubleday, Corgi, Black Swan, Red Fox and Random House Children's Books,

Related Topics:
Del Rey Manga - Manga - English - North America - Chatto and Windus

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Random House entered reference publishing in 1947 with the American College Dictionary, which was followed in 1966 by its first unabridged dictionary. It publishes today the Random House Webster's Unabridged and Random House Webster's College dictionaries, probably the main competitors for Merriam-Webster reference titles.

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The distinguished American publishers Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and Pantheon Books were acquired by Random House in 1960 and 1961, respectively; works continue to be published under these imprints with editorial independence. Other possessions of Random House include Shambhala Publications, purchased in 1974.

Related Topics:
American - Alfred A. Knopf - Pantheon Books - 1960 - 1961 - Shambhala Publications

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The publisher's main US office is located at 1745 Broadway in Manhattan, in a 684-foot tower completed in 2003 and spanning the entire west side of the block between West 55th Street and west 56th. Its lobby showcases floor-to-ceiling glassed-in bookcases filled with books published by the company's many imprints.

Related Topics:
Broadway - Manhattan

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One of its major competitors in Germany is the Holtzbrinck Group.

Related Topics:
Germany - Holtzbrinck

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