Collection (publishing)

Week-end à Zuydcoote by Robert Merle

Les Justes by Albert Camus

Le Nez qui voque [fr] by Réjean Ducharme

Évariste [fr] by François-Henri Désérable

Four titles from the "Collection Blanche" published by Éditions Gallimard.

In the field of book publishing, a collection or, more precisely, editorial collection (French: collection éditoriale; Spanish: colección editorial; Italian: collana editoriale; Portuguese: coleção de livros, lit. 'collection of books'), is a set of books published by the same publisher, usually written by various authors, each book with its own title, but all grouped under the same collective title. The collective title is the title of the collection, it must be mentioned on each book.^[1]

The books that make up an editorial collection can be published in a specific order or not. When each volume in the collection has a serial number, it is called a numbered collection.^[1]

A collection generally using distinctive, common formats and features. The title of a collection can be accompanied by the term "series" or its equivalents in other languages,^[2] such as in the English-speaking world, for example, the "Bibliothèque de la Pléiade", "Découvertes Gallimard" and "Que sais-je?" are all termed "book series" instead of collections. Conversely, Thames & Hudson's "World of Art" series was published as a collection in France and Spain.