Receive an extra 5% off when you spend £50 or more!
Receive an extra 5% off when you spend £50 or more!
Wordsworth Editions was established in January 1987, but it was the launch of the £1 Classic paperback in May 1992, the brainchild of the late Michael Trayler, that put the company in the spotlight. At the time, books could not be discounted under the Net Book Agreement, so offering classic titles at a fraction of the price of existing editions was a significant departure. The £1 Classics quickly attracted attention and helped make classic literature more accessible.
Michael led Wordsworth until he passed away in April 2005. In 2007, his wife Helen took the helm, continuing to shape the company through its return to the black Classics and the challenging years of the recession. Under her leadership, Wordsworth went on to achieve its best year for sales in more than two decades in 2021 and 2022, marking an important period in the company’s history.
elen passed away in December 2022. Since January 2023, Wordsworth has been led by her daughter, Nichola Trayler, who joined the company in 2008 before becoming Managing Director. Nichola now oversees the next chapter of Wordsworth, including the redesign of the range and a focus on making the books more beautiful and sustainable.
Today, Wordsworth remains a family run publisher, with two generations of the Trayler family having shaped its history. From Michael and Helen to their daughter Nichola, the company has remained focused on its founding principle of making great literature accessible to as many readers as possible, while continuing to evolve its collection for new generations.
Five things the site says about the way we work — none invented, all lifted from the Classics, Education, Pocket Fairytales and history pages.
Many Wordsworth Classics feature an exclusive introduction, offering useful context for both avid readers and students. The introductions were introduced when the format was overhauled in 1993 and remain an important part of many titles in the collection.
The £1 Classic in 1992 is the reason people first heard of us. Our paperbacks, in our own words, “have always been considered a bargain” — a low price point we work hard to maintain.
Over 70 of our titles are in use by exam boards — including Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Macbeth, A Christmas Carol and The Great Gatsby — with a retail price of £4.99 before the education discount.
Wordsworth remains a family run business, with Michael, Helen and now Nichola having shaped its history across two generations. There are no shareholders or absentee owners, just a family with a long standing commitment to publishing great books at accessible prices.
The Classics range spans “over 200 titles from the finest works of literature” — B-format paperbacks, 198mm × 129mm, with over 70 also serving as set texts.
If you’ve ever walked into a bookshop and quietly hoped the person behind the counter would ask the right question, Dorothy is here for you.
She’s Wordsworth’s book finding companion, an AI reading advisor who knows our range, from the £4.99 Classic to the foil blocked Collector’s Edition. Ask her for a Christmas gift for a fourteen year old, where to start with Austen, or the difference between our Luxe and Heritage editions of Pride and Prejudice, and she’ll help you find the right answer.
Whether you’re looking for your next read, choosing a gift or simply want to know more about a particular book or edition, Dorothy is here to help. She can make recommendations, explain the differences between editions and help you navigate the Wordsworth collection.
She’s not here to simply sell you a title. She’s here to answer the questions a good bookseller has always answered: tell me a little about what you’re looking for, and I’ll help you find it.
With 59 books to collect, these make the perfect gift!
