History of
Usborne Books

Usborne Publishing is a multiple-award winning worldwide children's publishing company, specializing in superbly researched and produced information books with a unique appeal to young readers.

When he founded the company in London in 1975, Peter Usborne set out to fill a huge gap in the market for children's non-fiction that combined very high educational and editorial standards with every feature he could devise to attract and interest the widest possible range of children - humor wherever possible, surprise, puzzles, things to do and make and things to think about. Usborne books are designed to stimulate, entertain and inform. Within months of first publication, Usborne books were a major international success. Now translated into over 60 languages, there can be very few bookshops anywhere in the world where there are no Usborne books. Widely imitated but never bettered, Usborne continues to earn glowing reviews and prestigious prizes. It has now added to its core non-fiction further specializations in computer guides, puzzle books, preschool fun and learning and books on music. Its latest development is a new range of internet-linked reference books, led by the Usborne Science and World History Encyclopedias, all of which offer quick access on-line to Usborne-reviewed and recommended Web sites via the Usborne Web site at Usborne.com. Why are Usborne Books so incredible? Because of the founder's philosophy: “Children are clever – they are our equals. We shouldn't talk down to them, but look across at them. Books should be friendly, and as much like magnets as possible. They should be reliable and accurate, stylish and artistic. They should be accessible, and also surprising and provocative. Books should help get you off your couch so you're not just sitting there watching TV and chewing gum. They should promote wondering. They should be better than good." – Founder, Peter Usborne

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"Usborne Publishing has grown into one of the world's leading publishers of non-fiction for children with translations in over forty languages, as well as having won the Times Educational Supplement Information Book Award. "The remarkable success of Usborne books derives from the simple idea that it is possible, without any sacrifice of quality, to produce non-fiction books as interesting and entertaining as television, magazines and comics – media that most children instinctively prefer. We compete with those "friendly" media in a number of ways, many of them unique to Usborne Publishing. "First, and most important, we spend an enormous amount of time and money producing every one of our books. These huge investments are essential for researching, visualizing and illustrating often very difficult subjects, such as computers, biology or typography, in a really simple, stylish and appealing way without losing detail or accuracy. We can only afford to do books in this laborious way because we persuade dozens of publishers overseas to share cost with us in return for the right to publish our books in their own languages. "The sale of our books overseas is now so widespread that it is probably quite difficult to go on holiday anywhere in the world without bumping into an Usborne book. Apart from time and money, we use a number of other ingredients to make our books appealing to children: humor whenever possible; a remarkably wide variety of illustration styles, increasingly including photography, a very high ration of pictures to text; short magazine-like paperback formats; tremendous detail; and a totally clear, simple but unpatronizing text. We never, never talk down to children. "The growth in the sales of Usborne books in the last few years has been quite remarkable, helped, we believe, by a rapidly increasing concern among parents to support the education of their children by providing stimulating and interesting books at home. It is becoming more and more widely accepted that the presence-and ownership-of books at home is one of the key factors linked to success at school. Many more teachers now accept that parents can, and should, play an important role in helping with children's education. "Meanwhile, we continually experiment with new directions and media.”

Usborne books are distributed in English under the Usborne imprint in the UK (by Usborne Publishing Ltd), the USA (by EDC Publishing), Canada (Riverwood Publishers), Australia and New Zealand (Harper Collins) and Singapore (MPH); also in French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch (as Editions Usborne, Ediciones Usborne, Edizioni Usborne and Uitgeverij Peter Usborne respectively). In other markets they appear in local languages under the names of various local publishers.

Usborne Publishing Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Registered no. 1124359. Registered offices: Usborne House, 83-85 Saffron Hill, London EC1N 8RT, England.