Founded in 1987 as a paperback imprint of the Octopus Publishing Group, Mandarin is linked to Mandarin Offset, a Hong Kong-based printing company founded by Paul Hamlyn in 1971 to handle much of Octopus's international printing requirements. Mandarin Offset continued operating until 1997.
Among the titles published by Mandarin, or its Australian affiliate Mandarin Australia, were several books in the Neighbours television series, including, for example, The Ramsays: A Family Divided (1989) and The Robinsons: A Family in Crisis (1989). The company has also published several Police Rescue titles and Agnes Nieuwenhuizen's (q.v.) Good Books for Teenagers (1992) and More Good Books for Teenagers (1995).
Authors to have had their work first published by Mandarin include Roland Perry, Alex Buzo, James McQueen, Damien Broderick, Denis Freney, Patrick Cook, John Marsden, Veronica Hart, David Owen, Lillian Ng, James Cockington, Kerry Greenwood, Paul Thomas, Geoff Pike, David Clunies-Ross, Liz Porter, and Stephen Cummings (qq.v.).
Poet Rupert McCall (q.v.) has also been published by Mandarin.
