Sir Stanley Unwin, KCMG (1884–1968) was a British publisher.

Career [ edit ]

Unwin founded the George Allen & Unwin publishing house in 1914.[1]

The company found success with authors such as Bertrand Russell, Sidney Webb, R. H. Tawney and Gandhi.[1]

In the 1930s he published two bestsellers by Lancelot Hogben: Mathematics for the Million and Science for the Citizen.

In 1936 J. R. R. Tolkien submitted The Hobbit for publication and Unwin paid his ten-year-old son Rayner Unwin a shilling[2] to write a report on the manuscript. 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 Lord of the Rings.

In 1950 Stanley 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".[1]

Personal life [ edit ]

Stanley Unwin was born on 19 December 1884 at 13 Handen Road, Lee, Lewisham, south-east London. He was one of the children of Edward Unwin (1840–1933), a printer who was the one of the sons of Jacob Unwin, the founder of the printing firm Unwin Brothers, and of his wife Elizabeth (nee Spicer).

His father's youngest stepbrother, Thomas Fisher Unwin was a publisher who founder the firm T. Fisher Unwin.

The children's writer Ursula Moray Williams was his niece.[3]

Unwin was a lifelong pacifist, and during the First World War, as a conscientious objector, he joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD).[4]

Unwin died on 13 October 1968 and was honoured with a Blue Plaque at his birthplace.

His birthplace in Handen Road, Lewisham

Blue Plaque on his birthplace.

References [ edit ]

Further reading [ edit ]

Books by Sir Stanley Unwin [ edit ]

The Price of Books (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1925)

(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1925) The Truth About Publishing (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1926; 8th revised edition, Allen & Unwin, 1976)

(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1926; 8th revised edition, Allen & Unwin, 1976) Book Trade Organisation in Norway and Sweden (1932)

(1932) The Book in the Making (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1933)

(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1933) Two Young Men See the World (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1934). Joint author: Severn Storr.

(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1934). Joint author: Severn Storr. The Danish Book Trade Organisation (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1937)

(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1937) Best-sellers: Are They Born or Made? (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1939). Joint authors: George Stevens and Frank Swinnerton.

(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1939). Joint authors: George Stevens and Frank Swinnerton. Publishing in Peace and War (London : George Allen & Unwin, 1944)

(London : George Allen & Unwin, 1944) On Translations (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1946)

(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1946) How Governments Treat Books (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1950)

(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1950) The Truth About a Publisher: An Autobiographical Record (New York: Macmillan, 1960)

Books about the Unwin family [ edit ]