About the Author

Humphrey Carpenter began his career working for the BBC and appeared on Radio 3 and 4 many times since. He has written many bestselling, award-winning biographies whose subjects include Tolkein, CS Lewis, Ezra Pound, WH Auden, Bejamin Britten, Spike Milligan. He was a prolific author of childrens' book and a skilled jazz musician. He died in January 2005.

Reviews

'A fine testimony to Humphrey's unobtrusive scholarship and narrative skills...a major contribution to our knowledge of publishing practices and the history of the book' -- Byron Journal, Andrew Nicholson 'Humphrey Carpenter's history of the firm, completed by other hands after his death in 2005, is an evocation of a vanished age' -- Jeremy Lewis, Daily Telegraph 20080707 'A treasure-trove of fascinating information paced into Humphrey Carpenter's riveting history of the world's longest surviving publishing house ...Terrific' -- Val Hennessy, Daily Mail 20080711 'The late Humphrey Carpenter, a delightful and generous-minded man to whose memory I doff my cap, died while still at work on the manuscript of Seven Lives' -- Independent on Sunday 20080711 'The highs and lows of the literary world are reported with panache in this fascinating book. Superb photographs too' -- Tatler 20080711 'The highs and lows of the literary world are reported with panache in this fascinating book. Superb photographs too.' -- Tatler 20080711 ' A fitting tribute to a remarkable publisher' -- The Sunday Herald 20080711