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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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Thu, 19/05/2011 - 09:58 Fewer French booksellers think publishers are "serious and reliable" than they did 10 years ago, a survey has revealed. Among 430 representative outlets surveyed in a poll taken for French trade weekly Livres Hebdo between... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 19/05/2011 - 12:19 Readers are being called to cast their vote for the Independent Booksellers Book Prize winner, after the shortlist was announced today. The annual award, which recognises works of fiction for adults and children, asks members... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Wed, 18/05/2011 - 09:18 The late lord chief justice Tom Bingham has been awarded the Orwell Prize for political writing for his book The Rule of Law (Penguin). Bingham, a former master of the rolls, lord chief justice, and senior law lord, died in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Wed, 18/05/2011 - 09:18 The late lord chief justice Tom Bingham has been awarded the Orwell Prize for political writing for his book The Rule of Law (Penguin). Bingham, a former master of the rolls, lord chief justice, and senior law lord, died in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Wed, 18/05/2011 - 09:31 Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Philip Roth has been awarded the £60,000 Man Booker International Prize 2011. The author of The Human Stain and American Pastoral was chosen from a list of 13 contenders including Marilynne Robinson, Anne Tyler and John... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 18/05/2011 - 14:47 Amazon.com has announced the launch of its second publishing imprint this month, with Thomas & Mercer to focus on mysteries and thrillers. The imprint is named after the streets that flank Amazon's Seattle headquarters and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple's attempts at limiting publisher requests for consumer data and the conversion of first-time downloads into regular users have been two of the larger stumbling blocks for magazine publishers building a business around apps. A new report from digital publishing vendor Yudu Media suggests... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 08:15 Corvus has acquired seven books from self-published author Nick Alexander, whose title The Missing Boyfriend was in the top 10 in the Kindle paid-for charts for six weeks. Senior editor Laura Palmer bought world English... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For the second year, Yale University will offer a publishing course aimed at long-time magazine industry professionals, slated to begin on with a keynote address from Richard Stolley, senior editorial adviser at Time Inc., on Sunday, July 10. The course will run through Friday, July 15. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 22:30 Quercus has been crowned 2011's best publisher at The Bookseller Industry Awards, as Sainsbury's scooped the Bookseller of the Year award. Quercus was presented with the Bonnier Publisher of the Year Award at the black-tie... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 09:06 The Bodley Head has acquired a title looking at the operation that searched for, and finally killed, Osama bin Laden, by al-Qaeda expert Peter Bergen. Publishing director Will Sulkin acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 13/05/2011 - 08:30 The Who guitarist Pete Townshend and "Little Britain" star David Walliams are the latest figures to have memoirs put in front of publishers, as the trade shows no sign of losing its appetite for celebrity autobiographies. Ed... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 13/05/2011 - 08:38 Literary agents Curtis Brown and Blake Friedman have said they are planning to follow Ed Victor's move into publishing, after he announced an ebook and print-on-demand venture earlier this week. Curtis Brown m.d. Jonathan... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 09:30 Lonely Planet is to move some operations to London at the same time as making 70 staff redundant in Australia. Staff at the Lonely Planet office in Melbourne have been told a large part of the company's web operations are moving to the UK following... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 15:36 Publishers need to diversify and compete head-on with other media in order to deflect the 'one-screen' effect of tablet devices, a panel discussion at the World e-Reading Congress declared. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 09:31 Publishers should not overspend in the fight against piracy, and should use their authors to present a "human face" in the battle for hearts and minds, a panel discussion at the World e-Reading Congress declared. The industry... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 09:30 Lonely Planet is to move some operations to London at the same time as making 70 staff redundant in Australia. Staff at the Lonely Planet office in Melbourne have been told a large part of the company's web operations are moving to the UK following... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 15:34 Random House UK's switch to the agency model this week could lead other publishers to follow suit, despite the Office of Fair Trading investigating ebook pricing. The publisher's switch on Tuesday meant it has around... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Wed, 11/05/2011 - 08:11 French publishers Albin Michel, Flammarion and Gallimard are suing Google for having scanned 9,797 books without prior permission for its Google Book Search programme, a publishing source told The Bookseller. Lawyers for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Wed, 11/05/2011 - 07:25 Authors and illustrators with technology skills will have an "undoubted advantage" in the emerging digital market, said Puffin as the winner of its inaugural Digital Prize was announced. The winner, announced on Tuesday 10th... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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