Parent company New Left Review Official website www.versobooks.com | Publication types Books Founded 1970 | |
Headquarters location 6 Meard Street, London
W1F OEG
20 Jay Street,
Suite 1010, Brooklyn,
New York 11201 Headquarters Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States Distribution W. W. Norton & Company (U.S.) | ||
Verso Books (formerly New Left Books) is a publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of New Left Review.
Contents
Renaming, new brand and logo
Verso Books was originally known as New Left Books. The name was changed in 2008. The name "Verso" refers to the technical term for the left-hand page in a book (see recto and verso), and is a play on words regarding its political outlook and also reminds of the vice versa - "the other way around".
The new logo of the company shows a big red "V" with bolded left arm that also could be readed like a double V (one big and one smaller), and on the twitter of the Publisher the huge V-logo is even tripled in the background.
History and details
The publisher gained early recognition for translations of books by European thinkers, especially those from the Frankfurt School.
Verso Books' best-selling title is the autobiography of Rigoberta Menchú, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.
Verso Books titles are distributed in the United States by Random House.
On April 8, 2014 Verso began bundling DRM-free e-books with print purchases made through its website. Verso's managing director Jacob Stevens stated that he expected the new offer on the Verso website to contribute £200,000 to the publisher's revenue in its first year helping to "shake up how publishers relate to their readership, and help to support independent publishing".