Ernest Hecht set up Souvenir Press from his bedroom in 1951. Now, following the death of Lord Weidenfeld, he is the last of the group of remarkable Jewish émigrés who transformed postwar British publishingA 65th birthday is a milestone but – now the official retirement age has been abolished – not that big a deal. A medium to large company celebrating 65 years in business is just looking for cheap publicity. But a one-man band of a company that has lasted 65 years? It’s a business in which it’s now thought only sprawling megacorps can possibly survive.And yet, still swimming merrily in the murky waters of London publishing, there amid the whales, sharks and giant squid, is this totally improbable tiddler: Souvenir Press, founded in 1951 by 21-year-old Ernest Hecht in his bedroom in Bayswater, London; still run in 2016 by 86-year-old Ernest Hecht OBE from his charmingly dotty HQ opposite the British Museum, where it has been for the past 42 years. It is an extraordinary story, to put it mildly. Related: Jewish community mark 75th anniversary of Kindertransport Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2016-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 2009, the number of self-published books released in the US exceeded the number of new titles from conventional publishers for the first time in history. Now, a similar pattern is emerging overseas. Until recently, costly transatlantic shipping, different trim sizes and business models, and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 08/04/2011 - 08:48 A record number of exhibitors are set to showcase at the London International Book Fair next week, as one publishing m.d. reported a "bouncy and optimistic" mood ahead of the three-day event and digital conference. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 07/04/2011 - 16:04 read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#part ii
Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 07/04/2011 - 09:05 US publishers have dismissed Borders' recovery plan, which includes revamped stores and increased online sales, as unrealistic and are increasingly gloomy about its future. The New York Times reports Borders senior... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 07/04/2011 - 15:58 A husband-and-wife team has launched an e-publishing company for new authors. Cornwall-based lawyers Nigel and Abbie Flanagan are calling on unpublished writers to submit the first 50 pages of their work to Wink Publishing.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 05/04/2011 - 16:11 Coronet will publish "Strictly Come Dancing" presenter Tess Daly's first sashay into fiction, having acquired The Camera Never Lies by the TV host. Editor Charlotte Haycock acquired British Commonwealth rights to the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Tue, 05/04/2011 - 08:19 Howard Jacobson's Man Booker-winning novel The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury) has been shortlisted for the £4,000 2011 Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize. The six-strong list spans Baghdad to Galilee to Vienna with Edmund de Waal's Costa category winner The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 15:24 Little, Brown has made two "significant" promotions, with deputy publisher David Shelley becoming publisher of the group and commercial director Ben Groves-Raines moving up to chief operating officer. All of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 13:02 Cornerstone and Vintage are planning to release historian Alison Weir's backlist in ebook format for the first time. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The current crop of Russian publishers is collectively on the young side, many of them born shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Then, teething problems were many and the growth path rocky at times. But today these publishers produce nearly 120,000 new titles per year,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones and Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 08:50 Literary agent Sonia Land has warned book publishers they will lose control over authors digital backlists unless they improve their royalty offer. Land this week announced her decision to publish 100 of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 14:45 An upbeat Bologna Book Fair this week saw a strong US presence and a notable upturn from the past two cautious years, with publishers willing to buy, albeit selectively. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 08:35 Judy Finnigan, one half of publishing phenomenon Richard and Judy, is to publish her long-rumoured first novel with Sphere. Catherine Burke, Sphere editorial director, signed world rights to two titles from Luigi Bonomi. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 11:26 Aitken Alexander is reporting strong interest in Grace McLeen's The Land of Decoration, sold last month to Chatto in the UK, Holt in the United States, HarperCollins in Canada and into 10 languages to date. It is about a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Zite, the app that gathers content according to a users interests and behaviors to form a personalized web magazine, has run into legal issues abound from major publishers such as Washington Post, Associated Press, Getty Images, Time and Dow Jones. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 08:10 Transworld is to publish a limited edition scratch and sniff version of Dirty Tricks by Jo Carnegie. Managing director Larry Finlay said: "This is a new move for us and it's certainly been a challenge for our production... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Thu, 31/03/2011 - 09:00 Titles on feminism, New Labour and the life and times of Christopher Hitchens have been longlisted for the 2011 Orwell Prize for political writing. The announcement was made at an event on Wednesday [30th March]. Eighteen titles... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 31/03/2011 - 09:14 Blackwell UK hopes to become profitable in two years, after nearly halving its operating losses to £5.6m. The academic booksellers year-end results to 26th June 2010 show the company has narrowed its operating losses from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 30/03/2011 - 14:55 Fourth Estate will publish the latest novel by The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan after HarperCollins bought The Valley of Amazement. Publication date for the novel is expected to be autumn 2012. Daniel Halpern, president and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Mon, 28/03/2011 - 15:31 Profit before tax at Jonathan Goodman Publishing, the parent company of Carlton Books Ltd and Andre Deutsch Ltd, has increased by 72% to £1.6m. The figures, for the year to end December 2010, also show turnover is up 6% to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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