Geoffrey Bles

Geoffrey Bles
Born 1886
Died 1957
Education Merton College, Oxford
Occupation Publisher

Geoffrey Bles (1886–1957) was a British publisher with a reputation for spotting new talent, who started his eponymous publishing firm in London in 1923,[1] and published the first five books of C.S. Lewis' Narnia series.[2]

Early life

Bles read Greats at Merton College, Oxford, which was followed by entry to the Indian Civil Service.[1] During the First World War he served in the 17th Cavalry, Indian Army, before returning to the Indian Civil Service.[3]

Publishing career

Bles entered publishing in 1923. Geoffrey Bles Limited were general publishers, but with a specialism in religion and translated works. Among the authors Bles published were C.S. Lewis, J.B. Phillips, Halliday Sutherland, Vicki Baum,[3] and Maria von Trapp.[4] Baum's Grand Hotel (1930), originally published in German, was a huge commercial success for Bles.[1]

Bles was introduced to C.S. Lewis through his employee Ashley Sampson (1900–1947) who owned the Centenary Press. Bles bought that company and merged it with his own thus acquiring Lewis as an author.[1] Lewis's key religious work, The Problem of Pain, was published jointly by Bles and Centenary Press in 1940, as were his Beyond Personality: The Christian Idea of God (1944) and The Great Divorce: A Dream (1945).[2]

Bles published on his own, Lewis's The Screwtape Letters (1942), The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) and the next four in the Narnia series up to The Horse and his Boy (1954), but for the last two books in the series Lewis moved to Bodley Head.[2]

William Collins publishers bought the firm of Geoffrey Bles in 1953 and Bles retired within a year or two but books continued to be published under the Bles imprint into the 1970s.[5] The Garnstone Press purchased the Geoffrey Bles name from Collins in 1971.[6]

Following his death, several correspondents commented in The Times on his personal suitability to the genteel world of literary publishing.[6][7]

Outside publishing

Bles was a member of the board of Charing Cross Hospital for many years.[7]

His great nephew is the writer William Mortimer Moore whose Free France's Lion: The Life of Philippe Leclerc, de Gaulle's Greatest General was published in 2011 and is dedicated to Bles.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Hooper, Walter. (2004) Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, The: Books, Broadcasts and the War, 1931–1949. London: Harper Collins, p. 554. ISBN 000628146X
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Scott, Jonathan. (2009) The Rare Book Price Guide 2010. London: Diamond Publishing, p. 420. ISBN 0953260186
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Mr. Geoffrey Bles." Sir James Hutchinson, The Times, 6 April 1957, p. 11. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 William Mortimer Moore (19 November 2011). Free France's Lion: The Life of Philippe Leclerc, de Gaulle's Greatest General. Casemate. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-61200-068-8.
  5. ↑ Geoffrey Bles. Aust Lit. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Sir Ian Anstruther of that Ilk." Michael Balfour, The Times, 11 August 2007, p. 60. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Mr. Geoffrey Bles." J.G.L., The Times, 8 April 1957, p. 14. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 September 2014.