Stanley Unwin (publisher)

Sir Stanley Unwin, KCMG (19 December 1884 – 13 October 1968) was a British publisher, founder of the George Allen and Unwin Ltd UK publishing house in 1914. It published serious and sometimes controversial authors such as Bertrand Russell and Mahatma Gandhi.

He was born at 13 Handen Road in Lee, Lewisham, south-east London. The children's writer Ursula Moray Williams was his niece.^[1]

Unwin was a lifelong pacifist, and during the First World War, as a conscientious objector, he joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD).^[2]

In 1936 J. R. R. Tolkien submitted The Hobbit for publication and Unwin paid his ten-year-old son Rayner Unwin a shilling^[3] 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.

Unwin died in 1968 and was honoured with a Blue Plaque at his birthplace.

Allen and Unwin corporate logo

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

References

1. ↑ "Obituaries: Ursula Moray Williams". The Independent. London, UK: INM. 7 November 2006. Retrieved 20 February 2016. 
2. ↑ Dictionary of National Biography
3. ↑ Plimmer, Charlotte and Denis (21 October 2015). "JRR Tolkien: 'Film my books? Its easier to film the Odyssey'". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK: TMG. Retrieved 20 February 2016. 

• Denniston, Robin (January 2008) [2004]. "Unwin, Sir Stanley (1884–1968)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 January 2008. 

External links

• Works by or about Stanley Unwin in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• New General Catalog of Old Books and Authors