Faber & Faber

The Untold Story of a Great Publishing House

Toby Faber

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Year: 2019
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9780571339068
• Subtopic: Literary Biographies
• Index: Literature

First published to celebrate Faber's 90th anniversary, this is the story of one of the world's greatest publishing houses - a delight for all readers who are curious about the business of writing.

'A striking drama.'
SUNDAY TIMES

'Never less than fascinating.'
DAILY TELEGRAPH

'This book will fascinate anyone with an interest in twentieth-century literature . . . a treasure trove.'
SCOTSMAN

'The details here do consistently shine.'
NEW YORK TIMES

'Ingeniously compiled . . . charming and quirky'
EVENING STANDARD

Told in its own words, this is the story of one of the world's greatest publishers, capturing the excitement, hopes and fears of the people who published and wrote the books that line our shelves today. Including archive material from T. S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, P. D. James, Kazuo Ishiguro and Philip Larkin, this is both a vibrant history and a hymn to the role of literature in all our lives.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Landing Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of plates: A selection of Faber jacket designs
• Introduction
• 1: 1924–1929: ‘She dislikes Elliott’s poems very much’
• 2: 1929–1935: ‘The Russell Square Twins’
• 3: 1936–1939: ‘With a very real danger of war’
• 4: 1939–1945: ‘Riding high on the crest of the highest wave’
• 5: 1945–1950: ‘It taught me a valuable lesson’
• 6: 1951–1960: ‘Flair rather than taste’
• 7: 1960–1970: ‘People feel that we are smug’
• 8: 1971–1979: ‘A reasonable hope of survival’
• 9: 1980–1986: ‘Faber has been taken over by a different generation’
• 10: 1987–1990: ‘A week is a long time in publishing’
• Afterword
• Appendix: Faber & Faber Sales and Profit History, 1929–1990
• Acknowledgements
• Index
• Plates
• About the Author
• Also by the Author
• Copyright