Open Road Integrated Media has announced it will reissue Daniel P. Mannix’s novel The Fox and the Hound in both print and e-book formats on August 19. The book has been out of print since the 1970s, but has seen enduring popularity partly thanks to Disney’s 1981 cartoon adaptation by the same name.

Originally published in 1967 by E.P. Dutton, now an imprint of Penguin Random House, The Fox and the Hound is a work of adult fiction and “notably darker than the Disney film,” per the publishers. Mannix’s story follows Tod, a red fox, and Copper, a bloodhound, as they get tangled up in a man’s quest for revenge. The Fox and the Hound is considered a standout of animal literature for its realistic depiction of animal behavior and cognition, Open Road CEO David Steinberger told PW.

This will be Open Road’s ninth title by Mannix, all of which have been released through the publisher’s Re-Discovery Lit, or Re-Lit, imprint. The initiative aims to revive titles that have been reverted to the author or their estate that might be popular with contemporary audiences. Open Road released seven Mannix titles this summer; his 1958 novel Those About to Die, which inspired the Gladiator film franchise, was also released last summer during the leadup to Gladiator II. “It’s very meaningful for us to take works that would otherwise be dormant and be able to find readers for them,” Steinberger said.

In addition to being a writer and carnival performer, Mannix raised wild animals from a young age, hunted, trained birds, and did falconry, per the publisher. Steinberger said that The Fox and the Hound’s unique look into a nonhuman psyche feels prescient, given growing interest in “the impact of human development on the animal world.”

Re-Lit launched in 2023, but Open Road has been sniffing out new markets for other publishers’ backlist titles since its founding in 2009. Ignition, the company’s signature program to promote backlist e-books, saw notable growth last year and now carries titles from four of the Big Five.