Salariya Book Company
Encyclopedia
The Salariya Book Company is an independent publishing company based in Brighton
, United Kingdom
, which publishes children’s non-fiction, fiction and baby books both domestically and internationally. Salariya books are published in the UK through its Book House, Scribblers and Scribo imprints.
, Dundee
, specialising in book design in his postgraduate year. He worked as a freelance illustrator and designer before founding The Salariya Book Company in 1989. He lives in Brighton with his wife Shirley and their son Jonathan.
, an animation of which is being developed by Spectra Animation in Canada
.
format. Each title is an abridged version of the original book, and is designed to engage young readers through the use of simplified narratives and colourful visual aids.
Most of the titles are illustrated by Penko Gelev, although Li Sidong, Nick Spender and Romano Felmang have also contributed to the series. Titles in the series include:
books published in the United Kingdom
by Salariya under the "Book House" name. The series is intended to interest adults and young people in history by compressing many facts and curiosities into 192 pages. The books are designed with multiple entry points (fact boxes, lists, recipes etc.) so they can be 'dipped into'. The emphasis is on highlighting little-known and bizarre stories and facts while covering the known history of the subject and debunking popular urban myths.
The books are written by different authors, including Fiona Macdonald, Jim Pipe, David Arscott, Ian Graham and Jacqueline Morley.
Titles in the series include:
2012 will see the release of ebook editions of the "A Very Peculiar History" series.
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, which publishes children’s non-fiction, fiction and baby books both domestically and internationally. Salariya books are published in the UK through its Book House, Scribblers and Scribo imprints.
History
The Salariya Book Company was founded by David Salariya as a book-packaging company in 1989 in Brighton, England. In 2002, it started publishing under its imprint Book House, going on to launch the imprint Scribblers (designed to develop key learning skills for babies and pre-school children) in 2007 and the children’s fiction imprint Scribo in 2009.Founder
David Salariya was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1954. He attended Ancrum Road Primary School then Harris Academy, before studying illustration and printmaking at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and DesignDuncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design is an integral part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom and has an outstanding reputation in both practice and research.-History:Attempts were made to...
, Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, specialising in book design in his postgraduate year. He worked as a freelance illustrator and designer before founding The Salariya Book Company in 1989. He lives in Brighton with his wife Shirley and their son Jonathan.
Books
Book series publishing by The Salariya Book Company include You Wouldn’t Want To Be (published as The Danger Zone in the UK), a series of over fifty illustrated historical non-fiction titles told using a first-person narrative, and Graffex, classic novels adapted into the graphic novel format. In 2009, the company bought the rights to the popular French-Canadian fantasy fiction series Amos DaragonAmos Daragon
Amos Daragon is a series of fantasy fiction books by the French Canadian writer Bryan Perro. The series has twelve volumes, beginning with Amos Daragon: The Mask Wearer. The central story arc focuses on Amos Daragon, a bright and adventurous twelve year-old, and his quest to become the 'Mask Wearer'...
, an animation of which is being developed by Spectra Animation in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Awards
In 2009, The Salariya Book Company was one of three publishers shortlisted for the Independent Publisher’s Guild’s Children’s Publisher of the Year award. In 2010, the Company went one better, beating Walker Books and Top That! to win the Children's Publisher of the Year award.Graffex
Graffex is a series of books published in the UK by Book House and available in numerous languages worldwide. The series takes famous literary classics and retells them in a graphic novelGraphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
format. Each title is an abridged version of the original book, and is designed to engage young readers through the use of simplified narratives and colourful visual aids.
Most of the titles are illustrated by Penko Gelev, although Li Sidong, Nick Spender and Romano Felmang have also contributed to the series. Titles in the series include:
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
(retold by Tom Ratliff) - Dracula by Bram StokerBram StokerAbraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
(retold by Fiona Macdonald) - Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde by Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
(retold by Fiona Macdonald) - FrankensteinFrankensteinFrankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
by Mary ShelleyMary ShelleyMary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
(retold be Fiona Macdonald) - The Hunchback of Notre DameThe Hunchback of Notre DameThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a novel by Victor Hugo published in 1831. The French title refers to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, on which the story is centered.-Background:...
by Victor HugoVictor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
(retold by Michael Ford) - A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules VerneJules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
(retold by Fiona Macdonald) - KidnappedKidnapped (novel)Kidnapped is a historical fiction adventure novel by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. Written as a "boys' novel" and first published in the magazine Young Folks from May to July 1886, the novel has attracted the praise and admiration of writers as diverse as Henry James, Jorge Luis...
by Robert Louis Stevenson (retold by Fiona Macdonald) - MacbethMacbethThe Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
(retold by Stephen Haynes) - The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
(retold by Jim Pipe) - Moby Dick by Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
(retold by Sophie Furse) - Oliver TwistOliver TwistOliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...
Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
(retold by John Malam) - A Tale of Two CitiesA Tale of Two CitiesA Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....
by Charles Dickens (retold by Fiona Macdonald) - Treasure IslandTreasure IslandTreasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
by Robert Louis Stevenson (retold by Fiona Macdonald) - HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
(retold by Kathy McEvoy) - Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
(retold by Micheal Ford) - Wuthering HeightsWuthering HeightsWuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
by Emily BrontëEmily BrontëEmily Jane Brontë 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother...
(retold by Jim Pipe) - Jane EyreJane EyreJane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England, in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York...
by Charlotte BrontëCharlotte BrontëCharlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, whose novels are English literature standards...
(retold by Fiona MacDonald) - The Three MusketeersThe Three MusketeersThe Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
by Alexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
(retold by Jim Pipe) - The Odyssey by HomerHomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
(retold Fiona MacDonald) - Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
(retold by Jim Pipe) - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the SeaTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the SeaTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870. It tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus as seen from the perspective of Professor Pierre Aronnax...
by Jules VerneJules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
(retold by Jacqueline Morley) - Gulliver's TravelsGulliver's TravelsTravels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
by Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
(retold by John Malam)
A Very Peculiar History
A Very Peculiar History is a series of illustrated non-fictionNon-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
books published in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by Salariya under the "Book House" name. The series is intended to interest adults and young people in history by compressing many facts and curiosities into 192 pages. The books are designed with multiple entry points (fact boxes, lists, recipes etc.) so they can be 'dipped into'. The emphasis is on highlighting little-known and bizarre stories and facts while covering the known history of the subject and debunking popular urban myths.
The books are written by different authors, including Fiona Macdonald, Jim Pipe, David Arscott, Ian Graham and Jacqueline Morley.
Titles in the series include:
- Ancient Egypt: A Very Peculiar History – The Art of Embalming: Mummy, Myth and Magic
- Scotland: A Very Peculiar History
- London: A Very Peculiar History
- Castles: A Very Peculiar History
- Golf: A Very Peculiar History
- Great Britons: A Very Peculiar History
- The Olympics: A Very Peculiar History
- Kings & Queens: A Very Peculiar History
- Christmas: A Very Peculiar History
- Titanic: A Very Peculiar History
- Royal Weddings: A Very Peculiar History
- Global Warming: A Very Peculiar History
- The Tudors: A Very Peculiar History
- William Shakespeare: A Very Peculiar History
- Charles Dickens: A Very Peculiar History
- World War One: A Very Peculiar History
- Whisky: A Very Peculiar History
- Brighton: A Very Peculiar History
- Wales: A Very Peculiar History
- Ireland: A Very Peculiar History
- The Blitz: A Very Peculiar History
- Rations: A Very Peculiar History
- Vampires: A Very Peculiar History
- Victorian Servants: A Very Peculiar History
- Yorkshire: A Very Peculiar History
- The World Cup: A Very Peculiar History
2012 will see the release of ebook editions of the "A Very Peculiar History" series.