A Living Memory : Hodder and Stoughton Publishers, 1868-1975

Hodder and Stoughton, London, first edition, 1975. Rexine, 8vo, 24 cm,. 287 pp, plates. From the blurb: "The story of Hodder & Stoughton from its founding by Matthew Henry Hodder and Thomas Wilberforce Stoughton in 1868 to the retirement of Paul Hodder-Williams in 1975. John Attenborough retired from the Deputy-Chairmanship of Hodder's in 1973 and wondered whether to try bookselling or authorship. He chose the latter and this is the result. Undaunted by the slender records kept by the original partners, and despite the loss of others in the blitz of 1940 and the later bombing of the firm's evacuee headquarters in Bickley, he has assembled an account which will fascinate those to whom books are their business. Essentially this is a history about people, be they authors, publishers or booksellers. The author has corresponded and talked with countless members of the firm, past and present, some of whose recollections go back to 1903. He has pieced together the story of a firm which is started by two great men, ascends with William Robertson Nicoll and again with Sir Ernest Hodder-Williams, survives the Great War, flourishes more greatly in the 20s than the 30's, pays a heavy publishing price for the Second World War and is reborn in the 60's. Very Good in Very Good dustwrapper.