Stanley Unwin (publisher)

Sir Stanley Unwin, KCMG (19 December 1884 – 13 October 1968) was a British publisher, who founded the Allen & Unwin publishing firm.<ref name="times">Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Unwin started his career at the publishing firm of his step-uncle Thomas Fisher Unwin. In 1914, Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in the firm George Allen and Sons, and established George Allen & Unwin, later to become Allen and Unwin.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

The company found success publishing authors such as Bertrand Russell, Sidney Webb, R. H. Tawney and Mahatma Gandhi.<ref name=":0" />

In the 1930s, Unwin published two bestsellers by Lancelot Hogben: Mathematics for the Million and Science for the Citizen.<ref>Primers for the Age of Plenty (George Allen & Unwin) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 4 May 2019.</ref>

In 1936, J. R. R. Tolkien submitted The Hobbit for publication and Unwin paid his ten-year-old son Rayner Unwin a shilling to write a report on the manuscript.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Rayner's favourable response prompted Unwin to publish the book. Once the book became a success, Unwin asked Tolkien for a sequel, which eventually became the bestselling The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien had wanted to publish The Silmarillion, but it was turned down for being "too Celtic"; it was finally published after his death by Allen & Unwin in 1977.

In 1950, Unwin published another bestseller, Thor Heyerdahl's The Kon-Tiki Expedition.

During his career Unwin was active in book trade organs such as the Publishers Association, the International Publishers Association and the British Council.<ref name=":0"/>

Personal life

Stanley Unwin was born on 19 December 1884 at 13 Handen Road, Lee, Lewisham, south-east London. His father was Edward Unwin (1840–1933) and his mother was Elizabeth Unwin (née Spicer). Edward Unwin was a printer whose father, Jacob Unwin, was the founder of the printing firm Unwin Brothers.

The publisher Thomas Fisher Unwin was his father's youngest stepbrother, therefore Stanley Unwin's step-uncle. The children's author Ursula Moray Williams was his niece.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Unwin was a lifelong pacifist, and during the First World War, as a conscientious objector, he joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD).<ref>Dictionary of National Biography.</ref>

Unwin died on 13 October 1968 and was honoured with a blue plaque at his birthplace.

Gallery

• 
  His birthplace in Handen Road, Lewisham
• 
  Blue Plaque on his birthplace.

Bibliography

• The Price of Books (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1925)
• The Truth About Publishing (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1926; 8th revised edition, Allen & Unwin, 1976)
• Book Trade Organisation in Norway and Sweden (1932)
• The Book in the Making (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1933)
• Two Young Men See the World (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1934). Joint author: Severn Storr.
• The Danish Book Trade Organisation (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1937)
• Best-sellers: Are They Born or Made? (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1939). Joint authors: George Stevens and Frank Swinnerton.
• Publishing in Peace and War (London : George Allen & Unwin, 1944)
• On Translations (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1946)
• How Governments Treat Books (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1950)
• The Truth About a Publisher: An Autobiographical Record (New York: Macmillan, 1960)
• Fifty Years with Father: A Relationship (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1982)

Further reading

• Philip Unwin, The Publishing Unwins (London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1972)
• Philip Unwin, The Printing Unwins (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1976)

External links

• Unwin, Sir Stanley (1884–1968) in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• New General Catalog of Old Books and Authors