Originally published in 1955,this book states that the lives of certain publishing houses are a direct reflection of the cultural history of the period in which they work. Of this sort of publisher no better examples could be found at the end of the nineteenth century than Swan Sonnenschein and George Allen.
Originally published in 1955, From Swan Sonnenschein to George Allen & Unwin Ltd states that the lives of certain publishing houses are a direct reflection of the cultural history of the period in which they work. They draw their successes from the intellectual enthusiasms of the time and in no small measure contribute towards the education of their contemporaries. Of this sort of publisher no better examples could be found at the end of the nineteenth century than Swan Sonnenschein and George Allen. Both were men of serious purpose, with a sense of mission in their business activities. Sonnenschein, who later changed his name to Stallybrass, was the publisher of Bernard Shaws novels, of George Moores Confessions of a Young Man; the first English edition of Marxs Capital; J. M. Barries first novel, Better Dead; Edwards Carpenters Towards Democracy; and besides an immense list of books on Social Science which were far ahead of their time he launched, with Professor J. H. Muirhead, the famous Library of Philosophy.
George Allens business was founded exclusively upon Ruskins works, but later he published for Augustus Hare, Maurice Maeterlinck and Hillaire Belloc.
Such was the foundation upon which Stanley Unwin was able to build in 1914, when he acquired the assets of the combined firms of Sonnenschein and Allen.
