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Amber Publishing House (Wydawnictwo AMBER) is a book publishing company based in Warsaw, Poland.  During the early 2000s they released titles in both the Lewis Barnavelt and Johnny Dixon series.

The company was founded February 28, 1989, by Zbigniew Foniok, scientist at the Polish Academy of Sciences, and Dariusz Chojnacki, graphic artist, both young fans and experts of science fiction and fantasy literature.

Bellairs Corpus[]

[[::Category:Published by Amber|Category:Published by Amber]]

Books have a red strip across the bottom of the front cover with the phrase Dla Fanów Harry'ego Pottera (translated as For fans of Harry Potter).

Lewis Barnavelt[]

  1. Luis Barnavelt i zegar czarnoksiężnika (2000)
  2. Luis Barnavelt i mroczny cień (2001)
  3. Luis Barnavelt, list, pierścień i czarodziejka (2001)
  4. Luis Barnavelt i duch w lustrze (2001)
  5. Luis Barnavelt i pogromca czarownic (2001)
  6. Luis Barnavelt i upiór w operze (Apr. 2001)
  7. Luis Barnavelt i widmo z Muzeum Magii (2001)
  8. Luis Barnavelt i Potwór Dzikiego Strumienia (Sep. 2001)

Johnny Dixon[]

  1. Johnny Dixon i klątwa błękitnego bożka (Nov. 2001)
  2. Johnny Dixon, mumia i testament milionera (Dec. 2001)
  3. Johnny Dixon i zaklęcie czaszki czarnoksiężnika (Jan. 2002)

Artwork[]

The three titles in the Johnny Dixon series had cover art created by Paul Zelinsky, as the then-most recent illustrator of the series for the American market.

The covers for the eight books in the Lewis Barnavelt series were met with confusion by American fans because their artwork has nothing to do with the stories. For example, Luis Barnavelt I Zegar Czaroksieznika features a character seemingly coming out of a hole in the ground, while Luis Barnavelt I Mroczny Cien shows purple, bubbly foam exploding from the rear of a school bus.

Correspondence with the publisher credited artwork to "Grimando" and "Garro"[1]. Artist Scott Grimando noted he did sell portfolio work to Polish publishers years ago but that none of the art was his[2]. Mark Garro, on the other hand, created artwork for an assortment of books, including titles in Goosbumps universe. It is assumed the art was created for other properties, acquired by Amber, and then used for editions of the Bellairs titles.

The following books have had the original source of their artwork discovered:

Bellairs Title Other Apperance
The Beast under the Wizard's Bridge (2001) Night of Fear (1996); Peg Kehret
The Specter from the Magician’s Museum (2001) Fright Christmas (1997); R.L. Stine

Reference[]

  1. Correspondence with Edward Biedrzycki (May 2002).
  2. Correspondence with Scott Grimando (2011).
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