Hamish Hamilton Limited is a publishing imprint and originally a British publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (Hamish is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas [meaning James], James the English form – which was also his given name, and Jamie the diminutive form). Jamie Hamilton was often referred to as Hamish Hamilton.
The Hamish Hamilton imprint is now part of the Penguin Random House group.
History and current publishing Hamish Hamilton Limited originally specialised in fiction, and was responsible for publishing a number of American authors in the United Kingdom, including Nigel Balchin (including pseudonym: Mark Spade), Raymond Chandler, James Thurber, J. D. Salinger, E. B. White and Truman Capote.
In 1939 Hamish Hamilton Law and Hamish Hamilton Medical were startedHamish Hamilton, fivedials.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018. but closed during the war. Hamish Hamilton was established in the literary district of Bloomsbury and went on to publish many promising British and American authors, many of whom were personal friends and acquaintances of Jamie Hamilton.
During the late 1940s, Hamish Hamilton Limited published authors including D. W. Brogan, Albert Camus, L. P. Hartley, Nancy Mitford, Alan Moorehead, Terence Rattigan, Jean-Paul Sartre, Georges Simenon and A. J. P. Taylor.
Jamie Hamilton sold the firm in 1965 to the Thomson Organisation, who resold it to Penguin Books in 1986. In 2013, Penguin merged with Random House, making Hamish Hamilton an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Hamish Hamilton's aim remains to publish innovative literary fiction and non-fiction from around the world. Authors include: Alain de Botton, Bernardine Evaristo, Esther Freud, Toby Litt, Redmond O'Hanlon, W. G. Sebald, Zadie Smith, William Sutcliffe, R. K. Narayan, Paul Theroux and John Updike.
Hamish Hamilton also published an online literary magazine called Five Dials, which was founded in 2008 and closed 16 years later, while its full archive remain available.
Book series Antelope Books Famous RegimentsFamous Regiments Series, bookhaventexas.com. Retrieved 13 April 2019. Fingerprint BooksFingerprint Books (Hamish Hamilton) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 13 April 2019.The Inventory of the Joan Fleming Collection #85. Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, bu.edu. Retrieved 13 April 2019. Hamish Hamilton Paperbacks The Little Golden Library - series edited by Herbert Strang. Titles include Scouting Stories (1931), True Adventure Stories (1931), Stories of Great Inventions (1932), Stories of the Sea (1933), Stories of Field and Forest (date unknown). Look Books Makers of the New World Makers of the New World (Hamish Hamilton) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018. The Modern LibraryModern Library, seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 13 April 2019. The Novel LibraryNovel Library, seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 13 April 2019. The "Six Great" Series"six great" + "hamish hamilton", worldcat.org. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
External links Hamish Hamilton - a brief history of the publishing house and its founder Five Dials - literary magazine published by Hamish Hamilton 2008–2023.
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