Books on George Allen, GA&U and Unwin Brothers

There's one by David Severn (David Unwin; Stanley's son, Rayner's brother), about his life with his father. The title escapes me; it's called something like "Life with my father". I'll try to find my copy.

And there's a book called "From Swann Sonneschein to George Allen & Unwin", or something like that, which tells of the early days of the company.

And I picked up a Festschrift (sp?) for Stanley Unwin which has a few nuggets in, but it clearly had a v limited print run.

- wellinghall

There's one by David Severn (David Unwin; Stanley's son, Rayner's brother), about his life with his father. The title escapes me; it's called something like "Life with my father". I'll try to find my copy.

I think I mentioned that one "Fifty Years with Father: A Relationship - David Unwin (GA&U)"

But I was not aware of the other two. Thanks

Trotter, yes, that was the David Unwin book I was thinking of - sorry I missed that in your original post.

I will try to find the other two, and give you some more details.

- wellinghall

Hmm. I have only:

The Truth about a Publisher - Sir Stanley Unwin (GA&U)

George Allen & Unwin: A Remembrancer - Rayner Unwin (Merlin Unwin)

The Truth about Publishing - Stanley Unwin (GA&U)

- and Rayner's 'Publishing Tolkien' from Thornton's plus one or two variants in TS publications; though I suspect the gist of all of these is the same, and is taken up in Rayner's Remembrancer, anyway.

Makes me feel rather uneducated; or at least, under-read.

Garm,

Do you have any more info on "Rayner's 'Publishing Tolkien' from Thornton's" as I have not heard of this before?

Andrew

How much is Tolkien mentioned in these?

This is one of the books I mentioned:
http://www.oakknoll.com/detail.php?d_booknr=15799&d_currency=

And this is the other:
http://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/n ... .php?topic_id=512&forum=9

- wellinghall

Thanks all for the information.

Ardamir, not much mention of Tolkien in most of these books, only a couple of sentences apart from Rayner Unwin's George Allen & Unwin - A Remembrancer, which has a lot of information.

Anyone know where I could buy a copy of Rayner Unwin's George Allen & Unwin - A Remembrancer? It seems rather hard to come by. I would love to own a copy if anyone knows.

I'm sure that Remy would not mind me posting extracts from the email that he received on the subject, from Merlin Unwin, publisher of the book.

"Dear Remy
Thanks for your email. Alas, I am unable to help you with this request.
My father’s book was printed in small numbers (I think 300 from memory) and it is rather frustrating that we under-printed slightly. I have looked into the costs of a small reprint and sadly it looks untenable for us – so really your best bet is to get hold of it from a library or possibly via www.abebooks.com. Hope this is of help and sorry we can’t supply you with your own copy.
Yours
Merlin Unwin

Merlin Unwin Books
Palmers House
7 Corve Street
Ludlow
Shropshire SY8 1DB
Tel: 01584 877456
Fax: 01584 877457
www.merlinunwin.co.uk"

I have seen two copies for sale in the last five years, one on eBay (about three years ago) and one very recently on Abebooks (which was withdrawn from sale as it had been sold privately).

If you have not done so already set up a Want on abebooks using the following information, you will get an email if a copy comes up for sale

George Allen & Unwin: A Remembrancer Rayner Unwin. Merlin Unwin Books. ISBN 1873674376

It is also helpful to see what the book looks like so you can keep an eye out for it in second hand bookshops so I have attached a copy of the cover. The spine is also very distinctive in grey and yellow with "George Allen & Unwin" as the title.

Good luck in finding a copy, it is an excellent book.

It may be worth people who are interested in the book contacting Merlin, I see on his web site that he sells limited leather editions of books and I'd assume that if he produced a limited leather edition of this book there is a market of buyers readily available to buy the book (I'd buy a copy).