Stanley Unwin

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Sir Stanley Unwin (born December 19, 1884 in London ; † October 13, 1968 there ) was an English publisher and founder of the publishing house.

Life

Stanley Unwin's birthplace on Handen Road, London

Unwin was born in London as the youngest of nine children of the printer Edward Unwins (1840-1933, son of Jakob Unwin) and his wife Elizabeth (1840-1921, daughter of the paper manufacturer James Spicer). He attended the Abbotsholme School in Derbyshire from 1897 to 1899 and was educated at the School for Sons of Missionaries in Blackheath . He left after two years because his father's print shop in Chilworth, Surrey burned down and led to the financial ruin of the family.

Unwin first worked as a messenger in the office of a ship and insurance broker and in 1903 went to Leipzig in Germany for some time. During this time he gained his first experience as a publisher in the German book trade, which benefited his later work. In 1904 Unwin went to see his uncle Thomas Fisher Unwin, his father's younger stepbrother, in Paternoster Square , London. He was a successful publisher from whom the young Unwin learned the trade of publishing, specializing in contracts and the marketing of foreign rights. Soon Unwin was so successful that after a trip around the world with his future brother-in-law Severn Storr he thought about founding his own publishing house. Their shared experiences are presented in the report Two young men see the world .

Founding of the publishing house and the war years

In 1911 George Allen had merged his publishing house with Swan Sonnenschein , but they could not avert the impending bankruptcy and had to sell their company. In 1914, Unwin took over the publisher "George Allen & Co.", which essentially published the works of John Ruskin , so it was more the shares of Sonnenschein that prompted him to take over the works of Karl Marx , George , among others Bernard Shaw , George Moore or Sigmund Freud published . August 4, 1914, on which " George Allen & Unwin Ltd." was founded, was not a happy day because it fell on the date on which his fatherland officially entered the First World War .

Since Unwin could not afford to do active front service as a soldier so soon after the publishing house was founded, he stood out as a volunteer in the “London I” section. For example, he passed exams in first aid and home nursing, was active during the air raids, participated in the restoration of a crashed zeppelin or acted as a porter at Charing Cross Hospital .

In addition to his pacifism, Unwin fought against censorship in the field of publication. Accordingly, he also devoted himself to controversial authors in order to support the free exchange of ideas. Among other things, he published books by and about conscientious objectors, which earned him open hostilities. For example, many booksellers refused to distribute Mrs. Henry Hobhouse's I Appeal unto Caesar (1915). Anyone wishing to purchase it had to come straight to the publisher. Unwin stated that the book, which had been rejected by a decision of parliament, sold thousands of copies. However, this experience was "an uphill battle with the book trade that he would never forget". The publisher published works by controversial authors such as Bertrand Russell ( The Principles of Social Reconstruction , 1916) or by Mahatma Gandhi .

In the 1930s, Unwin was aware of the growing threat posed by the National Socialists and recognized the danger posed by the incipient persecution of the Jews. He urged his friend the publisher Béla Horovitz , owner of the publishing house Phaidon Press , to leave Austria and sell the company to him in order to save it. The takeover of this famous art publisher angered the German authorities. Unwin later learned that his name was on the special wanted list GB , known as the Black Book , a directory compiled in 1940 by the Reich Security Main Office in Berlin of people who would automatically and primarily be detained by special units of the SS in the event of a successful invasion of the British island by the German armed forces should be taken, stood.

Unwin was President from 1936 to 1938 and from 1946 to 1954 and since 1955 Honorary President of the International Publishers Union .

In 1936, JRR Tolkien submitted the manuscript for the book The Hobbit to him with the request that the story be published. Since the book was published successfully, Unwin asked Tolkien for a sequel, which was finally published with the novel cycle The Lord of the Rings (1954/55) also in his publishing house.

Honors

family

On December 19, 1914, Unwin (Alice) married Mary Storr (1883–1971, daughter of the auctioneer Rayner Storr). They had four children together.

  • Elizabeth Spicer Unwin (1916-1916)
  • David Unwin Storr (1918-2010), the children's author was
  • Ruth Severn Unwin (1920-1998)
  • Rayner Stephens Unwin (1925-2000)

Unwin lived in Lee in south east London. His niece was the children's author Ursula Moray Williams .

Fonts (selection)

  • The work of VAD, London 1, during the war. George Allen & Unwin, London 1920 OCLC 14792636 .
  • The truth about publishing. George Allen & Unwin, London 1926. (8th edition 1976, ISBN 0-046-55014-3 ).
  • Franz Schnabel (translator): The real face of the publishing book trade. Poeschel, Stuttgart 1927, OCLC 64410566 (German edition).
  • The truth about a publisher; an autobiographical record. George Allen & Unwin, London 1960, OCLC 1343424 .
  • Hans Jürgen Hansen (translator): A publisher tells: Autobiography. Ehrenwirth, Munich 1960, OCLC 64535217 (German edition).
  • with Severn Storr: Two young men see the world. George Allen & Unwin, London 1934 OCLC 3020984 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Unwin, Sir Stanley on oxforddnb.com
  2. ↑ Mrs. Henry Hobhouse: I appeal unto Cæsar. George Allen & Unwin, London 1917, OCLC 10632439 .
  3. ^ Bertrand Russell: The Principles of Social Reconstruction. George Allen & Unwin, London 1916, OCLC 474864 .
  4. ^ Special wanted list GB (entry on Stanley Unwin).
  5. ↑ Knight on trove.nla.gov.au
  6. ↑ Ursula Moray Williams on independent.co.uk
personal data
SURNAME Unwin, Stanley
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English publisher
DATE OF BIRTH December 19, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH October 13, 1968
Place of death London