Sphere Books was founded as an imprint of Thomson Publications, the publishing arm of the Thomson Corporation. Founded by Canadian Roy Thomson, the parent organisation had made its foray into the United Kingdom in 1952 when it bought The Scotsman newspaper. The corporation later became one of the world's largest information companies.

Thomson Publications was created in 1961 as a vehicle for the company's UK book and magazine publishing interests, with Sphere being later established as a specialist paperback line which aimed its titles at confectioners, news agents, and tobacconists rather than established bookshops. This venture suffered losses, in part because it could not secure the paperback rights of books published by other Thomson companies, since most of these had already been bought by rival paperback publishers.

Sphere was sold to Pearson PLC in 1985 and became part of Penguin. The imprint was retired in 1990.