Faber & Faber: The Untold Story

(Paperback, Main)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

'The creation story of Faber is a striking drama ... Celebrating its 90th birthday this year, Faber boasts a phenomenal roster of successes ... What stays in the mind are some brilliant vignettes.' - Sunday Times

The names of T. S. Eliot, William Golding, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and Seamus Heaney are synonymous with the publishing house Faber & Faber, founded in Bloomsbury in 1929. But behind these stellar literary talents was a tiny firm that had to battle the Great Depression, wartime paper shortages and dramatic financial crises to retain its independence. This intimate history of Faber & Faber weaves together the most entertaining, moving and surprising letters, diaries and materials from the archive to reveal the untold stories behind some of the greatest literature of the twentieth century.

Highlights include Eliot's magnificent reading reports, Samuel Beckett on swearing and censorship, the publication of Finnegans Wake, the rejection of George Orwell's Animal Farm, P. D. James on tasting her first avocado, the first reader's response to Heaney's Death of a Naturalist, Philip Larkin's reluctance to attend poetry readings ('people's imaginary picture of you is always so much more flattering than the reality') and the discovery of Kazuo Ishiguro. The result is both a vibrant history and a hymn to the role of literature in all our lives.

'Ingeniously compiled ... one of the pleasures of this book is reading the early correspondences with writers who later became famous ... The very picture of old-school publishing, which, with its lunches and advances and cranky old book-lined offices, is so cheerfully celebrated in this charming and quirky history.' - Evening Standard

Reviews

A richly detailed biography of the distinguished British publishing house. -- Kirkus

A uniquely close-up view of 20th-century literary history. It includes fascinating stories about now-canonical works ... Brimming with humanizing details and unforgettable literary personalities, Faber's compilation will be a delight for literature fans. -- Publishers Weekly

Toby Faber, the grandson of the company's founder, relates this house's story as it celebrates its 90th anniversary. He does so ingeniously, compiling it from original documents -- letters, memos, catalogue copy, diary entries. It's a jigsaw puzzle that slowly comes together. The details here do consistently shine. -- New York Times

The creation story of Faber is a striking drama ... Celebrating its 90th birthday this year, Faber boasts a phenomenal roster of successes ... What stays in the mind are some brilliant vignettes. -- Sunday Times

Anyone with an interest in the history of English-language publishing won't want to miss this thoroughly charming history of the venerable British firm of Faber & Faber...a surprisingly jaunty, thoroughly readable look at literary publishing in the twentieth century. -- Booklist

Ingeniously compiled. -- Evening Standard

Author Bio

As the grandson of Faber's founder, Toby Faber grew up steeped in the company's books and its stories. He was Faber's managing director for four years and remains a non-executive director and chairman of sister company Faber Music. He has written two celebrated works of non-fiction, Stradivarius and Faberge's Eggs, and his first novel, Close to the Edge, will be published by Muswell Press in 2019. He lives in London with his wife and two daughters.