Valancourt Books is an independent American publishing house founded by James Jenkins and Ryan Cagle in 2005. The company specializes in "the rediscovery of rare, neglected, and

out-of-print An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book that is ...

fiction", in particular gay titles,

Gothic novels Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean me ...

and

horror novels Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...

from the 18th century to the 1980s.

Overview

Discovering that many works of

Gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean me ...

from the late 18th and early 19th centuries were unavailable in print, James Jenkins and Ryan Cagle founded independent American publishing house Valancourt Books in 2005, and began reprinting some of them. Specializing in "the rediscovery of rare, neglected, and out-of-print fiction", their list includes the " Northanger 'horrid' novels", seven gothic novels lampooned by

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

in ''

Northanger Abbey ''Northanger Abbey'' ( ) is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic fiction, Gothic novels written by the English author Jane Austen. Although the title page is dated 1818 and the novel was published posthumously in 1817 with ''Persuasio ...

'' (1818) and once thought to be fictional titles of Austen's creation. Eventually the company "expanded into neglected

Victorian-era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

popular fiction, including old

penny dreadful Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular Serial (literature), serial literature produced during the 19th century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typical ...

s and

sensation novel The sensation novel, also sensation fiction, was a literary genre of fiction that achieved peak popularity in Great Britain in between the early 1860s and mid to late 1890s,I. Ousby ed., ''The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English'' (1995) p. 8 ...

s, as well as a lot of the decadent and ''

fin de siècle "''Fin de siècle''" () is a French term meaning , a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom '' turn of the century'' and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without co ...

'' literature of the 1890s." In 2012, Jenkins and Cagle realized that there was 20th century literature as recent as the 1970s or 1980s that was equally difficult to find, and began republishing such modern works, in particular those of gay interest or in the horror/supernatural genre. Valancourt has reprinted many works last published in the 1980s by the now-defunct

Gay Men's Press Gay Men's Press was a publisher of books based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1979, the imprint was run until 2000 by its founders, then until 2006 by Millivres Prowler. Overview Launched in 1979 by Aubrey Walter, David Fernbach, and Ric ...

in their Gay Modern Classics series. Valancourt's reprint editions all have new introductions either by the original authors or by "leading writers or critics."

Legal deposit

Valancourt refused to deposit its books with the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

as required by

legal deposit Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposit ...

rules and sued the Copyright Office. It lost in first instance, but won on appeal in August 2023.

Notable titles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valancourt Books Book publishing companies of the United States LGBTQ book publishing companies Publishing companies established in 2005 Small press publishing companies