Découvertes Gallimard
Découvertes Gallimard (French: [dekuvɛʁt ɡalimaːʁ], lit. 'Gallimard Discoveries'; in United Kingdom: New Horizons, in United States: Abrams Discoveries) is an editorial collection of illustrated monographic books published by the Éditions Gallimard in pocket format. The books are concise introductions to particular subjects, written by experts and intended for a general audience.
Four titles from the collection, first row from left to right — Les feux de la Terre : Histoires de volcans, L'Afrique des explorateurs : Vers les sources du Nil, Tous les jardins du monde and Figures de l'héraldique; and their English editions published in the corresponding American and British series — Abrams Discoveries (second row) and New Horizons (third row), respectively. | |
| Edited by | Pierre Marchand, Élisabeth de Farcy, Paule du Bouchet |
|---|---|
| Translator | Ruth Sharman, Paul G. Bahn, et al. |
| Illustrator | Dominique Thibault, Jean-Olivier Héron, for pré-générique only (first 2 volumes), et al. |
| Cover artist | David Roberts, Roland Cat, et al. |
| Country | France |
| Language | French; some titles originally published in Dutch, English, German and Italian |
| Genre | Encyclopaedia, humanities |
| Publisher | FR: Éditions Gallimard UK: Thames & Hudson US: Harry N. Abrams |
| Published | 1986–present |
| Published in English | UK & US: 1992–2008 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) & e-book for iPad |
| No. of books | 700+ (including spin-offs) 107 (UK edition) 111 (US edition) (List of books) |
| OCLC | 638040265 |
| Website | www |
Created in the style of livre d'art, the collection is based on an abundant pictorial documentation and a way of bringing together visual documents and texts, enhanced by printing on coated paper, as commented in L'Express, "genuine monographs, published like art books". Its creator—Pierre Marchand the "iconophile", as remarked by the German graphic designer Raymond Stoffel—was instrumental in moulding the policy and ideals of the collection, which was an immediate success both in France and internationally.
The first title À la recherche de l'Égypte oubliée (English edition: The Search for Ancient Egypt) appeared on 21 November 1986, authored by the French Egyptologist Jean Vercoutter. These scholarly little books then released in successive volumes, without a systematic plan, each of which is structured like a separate book (see monographic series). 588 titles were published by November 2012, with more than 160 volumes of spin-offs and catalogues as of 2021.