An omnibus edition or omnibus is a book containing multiple
creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort in the world through a ''creative process'' involving one or more individuals. The term includes fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (li ...
s by the same or, more rarely, different
author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
s. Commonly two or more of the works have been previously published as books, but a collection of shorter works, or shorter works collected with one previous book, may also be known as an omnibus.
Omnibus editions help consolidate longer series into fewer books. The prices are usually equal to or less than the price of buying each individual edition separately.
Examples
* ''The Omnibus
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright.
His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
(4-Books-In-1:
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' () is a science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may inclu ...
,
Around the World in Eighty Days,
The Blockade Runners,
From the Earth to the Moon
''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' () is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an en ...
and a Trip Around It)''. Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippincott & Co.
* ''The
Biggles
James Charles Bigglesworth, nicknamed "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the Title role#Title character, title character and Protagonist, hero of the ''Biggles'' series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns ...
Omnibus'' (three volumes, 1938-1941), followed by ''The First Biggles Omnibus'' (1953), ''The Biggles Air Detective Omnibus'' (1956) and ''The Biggles Adventure Omnibus'' (1965).
* ''The
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
illustrated omnibus: a facsimile ed. of all
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
’s Sherlock Holmes stories'', illustrated by
Sidney Paget, as they originally appeared in the
Strand magazine. London:
John Murray. 1978.
* ''
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
1920s Omnibus'', ''Agatha Christie 1930s Omnibus'', and so on to the ''1960s Omnibus'', are five omnibus editions of those novels by Agatha Christie that were originally published in one decade.
*
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
,
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
and
Image Comics
Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...
have published omnibus editions. DC published a line called
Showcase Presents, but was replaced with a line of
hardcover
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bookbinding, bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other clo ...
editions called "
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...
Omnibus", "
Silver Age
The Ages of Man are the historical stages of human existence according to Greek mythology and its subsequent interpretatio romana, Roman interpretation.
Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to pr ...
Omnibus" and "
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
Omnibus", along with many
Modern Age Omnibus titles.
* ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...
'' has been sold in an omnibus containing all three volumes and 6 appendices.
* ''
The Chronicles of Narnia
''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia (wor ...
'' have been sold in an omnibus edition containing all seven novels in the series.
* The ''
Three Californias Trilogy'' by
Kim Stanley Robinson has been published in a single-volume edition by
Tor Books
Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles.
History
Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...
.
* The three novels comprising
Joe Haldeman's
The Forever War series have been published in a single volume titled "
Peace and War" by Gollancz S.F.
* American-Japanese publishing company
Yen Press published an omnibus
consisting of the first 22 volumes (and two side stories) of the Japanese light-novel series ''
A Certain Magical Index''.
See also
*
Anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...
*
Box set
A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists ...
*
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics in the United States, a trade paperback (shortened: TPB or trade) is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually presenting either a complete miniseries, a story arc from a single title, ...
*
Short story collection
A short story collection is a book of short stories and/or novellas by a single author. A short story collection is distinguished from an anthology of fiction, which would contain work by several authors (e.g., '' Les Soirées de Médan''). Th ...
*
Book series
A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...
*
Volume (bibliography)
A volume is a physical book. It may be printed or Codex, handwritten. The term is commonly used to identify a single book that is part of a larger collection. Volumes are typically identified sequence, sequentially with Roman numerals, Roman ...
*
Collection (publishing)
In the field of Publishing, book publishing, a collection or, more precisely, editorial collection (; ; ; ), is a set of books published by the same publisher, usually written by various authors, each book with its own Title (publishing), title, b ...
References
Novel forms
Literary terminology
{{Lit-stub