George Allen & Unwin

George Allen & Unwin as a publishing imprint reflected a cross-section of the intellectual achievement of the Twentieth Century. Its foundation and growth during its first fifty years have been amply described both by Sir Stanley and Philip Unwin, but the final third of the firm's life has not hitherto been touched upon. In his Remembrancer Rayner Unwin traces the vicissitudes of his own time with the Company (1951-1990). It is a digressive and personal history, with reflections on the delights as well as the dangers of a style of publishing that has now all but vanished. He does not attempt to re-tell the early part of the firm's story. Instead he focuses initially on the excitements and innovations of the post-war period, with memories of authors like Tolkien and Thor Heyerdahl, Russell and Roald Dahl. Regrettably, however, it proved to be the height of the firm's fortunes when Rayner Unwin takes up the story. After a couple of decades it was followed, inexorably, by a falling off; weaknesses were exposed and attempts to remedy them failed. The eventual take-over of the Company and its extinction - in this country at least - was a sad conclusion. The Remembrancer ends by recording the sequence of these events, and thereby winds up the history of a distinguished firm. George Allen & Unwin as a publishing imprint reflected a cross-section of the intellectual achievement of the Twentieth Century. Its foundation and growth during its first fifty years have been amply described both by Sir Stanley and Philip Unwin, but the final third of the firm's life has not hitherto been touched upon. In his Remembrancer Rayner Unwin traces the vicissitudes of his own time with the Company (1951-1990). It is a digressive and personal history, with reflections on the delights as well as the dangers of a style of publishing that has now all but vanished. He does not attempt to re-tell the early part of the firm's story. Instead he focuses initially on the excitements and innovations of the post-war period, with memories of authors like Tolkien and Thor Heyerdahl, Russell and Roald Dahl. Regrettably, however, it proved to be the height of the firm's fortunes when Rayner Unwin takes up the story. After a couple of decades it was followed, inexorably, by a falling off; weaknesses were exposed and attempts to remedy them failed. The eventual take-over of the Company and its extinction - in this country at least - was a sad conclusion. The Remembrancer ends by recording the sequence of these events, and thereby winds up the history of a distinguished firm.

Auteur

Rayner Unwin spent his working life in book publishing. He succeeded his father Sir Stanley Unwin as Chairman of George Allen & Unwin Ltd in 1968. But before he became a publisher, towards the end of the Second World War, he served on tank landing ships in the Far East. His experience of life in the navy sparked a life-long interest in seafaring, inspiring two of the five books he was to later write, The Defeat of John Hawkins and A Winter away from Home. After the war he completed his degree at Oxford, going on to study English Literature as a Post Graduate at Harvard. As a publisher he edited many distinguished authors including Roald Dahl and JRR Tolkien with whom he developed a close friendship. He retired from book publishing in 1990 when Allen & Unwin was taken over by HarperCollins. He died in 2000.