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Target Books
Target Books were a children’s publishing imprint, significant for being the dominant publisher of Doctor Who prose fiction and non-fiction from the 1970s to the early 1990s. They were most famous for their line of novelisations of Doctor Who serials, in part because the novelisations were the principal route by which some fans could experience missing episodes. Technically an imprint, and not an independent publisher, they were owned by several houses. However, the Doctor Who line is most associated with W.H. Allen & Co, who owned Target from 1977–1989, and Virgin Books, who bought them in 1990 and extended and reprinted the line until 1994. In 2018, the Target Books were revived, featuring novelisations of television stories from 2005 and beyond.
Target Books’ Doctor Who output in 1973 consisted of novelisations involving the First Doctor. All of the 1973 books were reprints of editions by other publishers.
May 2: Doctor Who and the Crusaders (The Crusade)
May 2: Doctor Who and the Daleks
May 2: Doctor Who and the Zarbi (The Web Planet)
1974
Jan 17: Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion (Spearhead from Space)
Jan 17: Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters (Doctor Who and the Silurians)
Mar 27: Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon (Colony in Space)
Mar 27: Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks
Oct 17: Doctor Who and the Daemons
Oct 17: Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils
Nov 21: Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen
1975
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1976
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1977
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1978
Target Books’ Doctor Who output in 1978 was again Fourth Doctor-centric. The number of titles dropped from 1977, and both the Second and Third Doctors were a part of the year’s novelisations.
May 15: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (original novel)
May 15: Timelash
Jun 12: The Mark of the Rani
Jul 10: The King’s Demons
Aug 21: Slipback (radio play)
Sep 11: The Savages
Oct 16: Harry Sullivan’s War (original novel)
Oct 16: Fury from the Deep
Nov 20: The Celestial Toymaker
Dec 4: The Seeds of Death
1987
Target Books’ Doctor Who output in 1987 matched the pace of new novelisations in 1986. It was also the first year since 1973 in which no novelisations of the current Doctor were published. Instead, the First Doctor was featured in the majority of the adaptations that year. Target also produced the first BBC-sanctioned plans of how to build the TARDIS exterior, along with an all-new collection of comic gags by Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett — The Doctor Who Fun Book.
Feb 19: Black Orchid
Mar 19: The Ark
Apr 16: The Mind Robber
May 21: The Faceless Ones
May 21: The Doctor Who Fun Book
Jun 15: Junior Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius (reissue)
Jun 18: The Space Museum
Jul 16: The Sensorites
Aug 20: The Reign of Terror
Sep 17: The Romans
Oct 1: The Ambassadors of Death
Oct 15: K-9 and Company (A Girl’s Best Friend)
Oct 19: Build the TARDIS
Nov 19: The Massacre (The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve)
Dec 1: The Macra Terror
1988
Target Books’ Doctor Who output in 1988 for the first time offered a new novelisation each month. As had become usual over the last few years, the stories featured a wide range of Doctors. After a year’s absence, the Sixth Doctor returned to the range. Most of The Trial of a Time Lord was published, with the exception of Mindwarp.
Meanwhile the then-current Doctor made his Target debut, alongside releases featuring the First, Second, Third and Fifth Doctors. Midway through the year, Target changed its cover design to give a unified “look” to their line. Accordingly, they switched to the Seventh Doctor‘s televised logo and gave the tops of the covers black framing elements.