Abacus reissues to mark 40th

Little, Brown imprint Abacus is celebrating the big four-oh this year by reissuing 18 of its most notable titles, with a uniform jacket look and new introductions from the likes of Bill Clinton and Howard Jacobson.

The titles chosen for the anniversary are a mixture of fiction and non-fiction, and will all be released on 4th April 2013, priced between £7.99 and £9.99.

The books are: Holocaust memoir If This is a Man by Primo Levi, with a new introduction by Howard Jacobson; Nelson Mandela's memoir, A Long Walk to Freedom, with a new introduction by former US president Bill Clinton; "how money works" guide The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford; novel Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge, introduced by John Banville; The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith; Roman history title Rubicon by Tom Holland; Property by Valerie Martin, a novel set on a Louisiana sugar plantation; Generation X by Douglas Coupland; Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts; Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace; zany autobiography Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris; Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell, with an introduction by journalist Hadley Freeman; Old Filth by Jane Gardam, which follows a Hong Kong lawyer from childhood to old age; The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks; The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell; Fortune's Rocks by Anita Shreve; thriller Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre; and 2009 Man Booker-shortlisted The Glass Room by Simon Mawer.

Publishing director at Little, Brown and Abacus Richard Beswick said the selection process was "brutal", and added: "Looking back over the list it is noticeable how many of these authors and books were trailblazers—whether we're talking about a book as grave and brilliant as Primo Levi’s If This is a Man, or as outrageous as The Wasp Factory. I wanted to celebrate the imprint's success over the years at identifying this originality - whether of voice or material - and the best way of doing it was to ask the authors to write new introductions, setting their work in context, for example Douglas Coupland talking about the corporate madness of the late 1980s which led to the writing of Generation X."

Marketing plans for the new-look titles include posters and display bins for independent bookshops and Waterstones, as well as creating in-store displays to mark the anniversary on the high street. Abacus will also create original online content that bookstores are able to download. 

Abacus will also be teaming up with fellow 40-year-old Little, Brown stable-mate Virago to host a birthday bash in June this year.