Egmont Publishing

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Egmont Publishing is the current publisher of the Railway Series books and has the rights to release a variety of other Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends books, including the My Thomas Story Library and Thomas Story Time ranges. Some books are published in the UK and Australia under the subsidiary Hardie Grant Egmont.

About the Company

Egmont Books was started more than 130 years ago. From a fairytale that began in a little humble apartment on 15th May 1878 in Copenhagen, Egmont has developed into the media house it is today and a leading provider of entertainment in Scandinavia with operations in over 21 countries.

In the early years, Egmont remained a printing business but soon came to include creating and telling stories.

A dream comes true as the 17 year old Egmont Harald Petersen, with a loan on his mother's assets, buys a "flyswatter" - a hand operated, simple printing machine - to start his one man business. Egmont's ability to think along new lines and to innovate has the full backing of his mother Petrine who mortgages her own lifeline, her sewing machine, to enable her son to realise his dream.

On the very day Egmont H. is heading into town to pick up the first equipment for his printing shop, he finds a coin. This coin proved to be Egmont's lucky charm and is today kept at the Head Office in Copenhagen.

Already in 1880, there is not enough room in his mother's kitchen and during the following years the printing operation moves to ever bigger facilities. Egmont H. buys more machinery, hires more employees and becomes known across Denmark as a clever young printer who delivers quality products. To keep up with technology in the typographic industry, Egmont H. frequently travels abroad and is breaking new ground in printing methods until his passing. In 1892 Egmont H. prints the first colour picture in Denmark. It is also during this time that Egmont H. is given the nickname "ArtPetersen". He is recognised in the industry for his fine work and is awarded the honourable title of Printers to the Royal Danish Court, a distinction still held by the company today.

The Railway Series

After Wilbert Awdry's death in 1997 Egmont Publishing received the rights to publish the Railway Series. Within the following year, they released reformatted versions of 14 books from the Railway Series. However, many people who were fans of the Railway Series and Thomas in general were displeased with Egmont's reformatted versions of the books, as Egmont cropped, omitted and altered most of the illustrations. As a result, the new format was discontinued and scrapped due to negative feedback. Egmont eventually reverted the Railway series books that they published back in 1998 to their original state in 2004.

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One of the reformatted books published by Egmont in 1998

Books

The Railway Series

Writers		Wilbert Awdry \| Christopher Awdry \| George Awdry \| Brian Sibley
Illustrators		William Middleton \| Reginald Payne \| C. Reginald Dalby \| John T. Kenney \| Gunvor and Peter Edwards \| Clive Spong \| Stephen Lings
Publishers		Edmund Ward \| Kaye & Ward \| William Heinemann \| Egmont Publishing \| Random House Books
Narrators		Wilbert Awdry \| Johnny Morris \| Willie Rushton \| Ted Robbins \| John Gielgud \| Andrew Sachs \| Michael Angelis
Characters		Railway Series characters \| Railway Series-exclusive characters \| Awdry-created characters
Other		The Sad Story of Henry (1953) \| The Railway Stories \| Eric Marriott
Books	W.A.	The Three Railway Engines \| Thomas the Tank Engine \| James the Red Engine \| Tank Engine Thomas Again \| Troublesome Engines \| Henry the Green Engine \| Toby the Tram Engine \| Gordon the Big Engine \| Edward the Blue Engine \| Four Little Engines \| Percy the Small Engine \| The Eight Famous Engines \| Duck and the Diesel Engine \| The Little Old Engine \| The Twin Engines \| Branch Line Engines \| Gallant Old Engine \| Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine \| Mountain Engines \| Very Old Engines \| Main Line Engines \| Small Railway Engines \| Enterprising Engines \| Oliver the Western Engine \| Duke the Lost Engine \| Tramway Engines
	C.A.	Really Useful Engines \| James and the Diesel Engines \| Great Little Engines \| More About Thomas the Tank Engine \| Gordon the High-Speed Engine \| Toby, Trucks and Trouble \| Thomas and the Twins \| Jock the New Engine \| Thomas and the Great Railway Show \| Thomas Comes Home \| Henry and the Express \| Wilbert the Forest Engine \| Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines \| New Little Engine \| Thomas and Victoria \| Thomas and his Friends \| ~~Barry the Rescue Engine~~
	Other	Thomas's Christmas Party \| Thomas Comes to Breakfast \| Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree \| Thomas and the Evil Diesel \| Thomas and Gordon Off the Rails \| Thomas and the Hurricane \| Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection \| Thomas the Tank Engine: The New Collection \| Annuals \| Mini Books \| Pop-up Books
	Companion	Twelve Happy Engines \| The Railway Series: Surprise Packet \| Railway Map of the Island of Sodor \| The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways \| The Thomas the Tank Engine Man \| Sodor: Reading Between the Lines
Lectures		Narrow Gauge Rails in Sodor \| Railways of Sodor

Egmont Publishing

About the Company

The Railway Series

Books

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