The first book that was published by Cornelius and Johanna Struik was entitled African Field Reports: 1952 - 1961, and was written by American journalist Edward S. Munger. It appeared in Cape Town in 1961, almost 50 years ago. The founders of what would later become widely known as Struik Publishers placed an impressive initial print order for their first title - the grand quantity of 300 copies!

Today, our company's local publishing operation is led by specialist editors and designers working within five separate imprints. Each imprint is led by an experienced Publisher who manages and developes their own list. Our illustrated imprints are: Struik Lifestyle, Struik Nature and Struik Travel & Heritage. Our two ‘black and white' imprints, Umuzi and Zebra Press - along with a multitude of international imprints based in London, New York, Australia and India - complete the many ‘houses' to be found within the now unified ‘home' of Random House Struik.

The scope of our lists is varied and wide. From the practical Pass Your Learners series to more lavishly illustrated books on topics ranging from food, architecture, travel and painting to the finest natural history list in the country, the Struik name is well established as the footprint of Africa in the publishing world. Each imprint strives to encompass the superb quality, meticulous standards of production and ongoing innovation that the founders of the business set as benchmarks in the early days. Our company endeavours to create and distribute original, commercially dynamic and sought-after content that addresses the literary, entertainment and information needs of a myriad niche and more general markets throughout the country. This dedication to quality and up-to-the-minute relevance remains the abiding motivation driving our dedicated teams of specialist ‘book makers'.

Five years after the establishment of Struik Publishers in Cape Town, in 1966, the London-based publishing company that was then known as The Hutchinson Group Ltd registered a business under that same name at the Registrar of Companies in Pretoria. This was the precursor to what was to become, during the 1990s, Random House (Pty) Ltd in South Africa - or RHSA. As such, RHSA held then (and still does) exclusive rights for southern Africa to distribute and publish the books originated by its parent company in the United Kingdom, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and India. RHSA thus has access to well over 75 other imprints that originate, between them, hundreds of new titles each year.

In August 2008 Random House South Africa (RHSA) and Struik Publishers announced their merger to create a significant new player in the African book-publishing industry. The new company, known as Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd, brought together these two prominent publishers under the leadership of Stephen Johnson.

The Random House Group in London shares with our local imprints its international publishing strength through its many diverse and highly respected imprints. This provides Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd with internationally acclaimed authors such as James Patterson, Ian McEwan, Philip Roth, Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Bill Bryson, Richard Branson, Andy McNab, Terry Pratchett, Lee Child, Jilly Cooper, Robert Harris, Dan Brown, Chris Ryan, Mark Haddon, Philip Pullman and Jacqueline Wilson. The Group is also the international publisher of lauded South African writers such as JM Coetzee and André Brink, as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu.