US vs UK editions: Orbit vs Gollancz

English language Witcher books come in two main families. In the United States the publisher is Orbit, whose current standard editions are the new edition trade paperbacks of July 5, 2022, running from The Last Wish at 9780316452465 through Season of Storms at 9780316453165 in clean sequence. In the United Kingdom the publisher is Gollancz, whose paperbacks include The Last Wish at 9781473231061, Baptism of Fire at 9781473231108 and The Lady of the Lake at 9781473231122.

The families disagree on titles. Orbit calls the fourth saga novel The Tower of Swallows, plural; Gollancz calls it The Tower of the Swallow, singular, at 9781473231115. Orbit's second saga novel is The Time of Contempt, where the UK form is Time of Contempt. A listing title alone, copied carelessly, can therefore misidentify which physical edition is being sold, and the title page and copyright page, not the listing, are the authority.

Covers divide just as clearly. The Orbit 2022 run is a uniform designed set, made to be shelved together and sold in the Stories boxed set, 9780316565165, and the Saga boxed set, 9780316498845. Gollancz editions carry their own cover programme. Mixed shelves are the norm in secondhand lots, and there is nothing wrong with a mixed set except surprise, so this page exists to remove the surprise.

Which to buy is a taste and completeness question rather than a quality one. The Orbit run is the easier complete set to assemble new today, in matching paperback and in a 2022 hardcover line. The Gollancz editions suit a buyer who prefers the UK titles as first published in English or who is completing a Gollancz shelf already begun.

Japanese editions form a third family entirely, Hayakawa Bunko FT paperbacks with verified ISBNs for seven of the nine novels, covered on their own page. No part of this US and UK comparison applies to them.