THE MAKING OF A PUBLISHER

by Victor Weybright ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 22, 1967

In the trade, Victor Weybright and NAL were at one time synonymous; while the association has recently been severed and Mr. Weybright does not conceal his bitterness, particularly over management procedures and publishing trends, much of his book looks back to his earlier history and that of New American Library of World Literature, Inc., which he founded with Kurt Enoch. Weybright was a country boy, always passionately devoted to farming and conservation; until he started NAL he kept one foot on a Maryland farm. His training to be a publisher began with the moral precepts of family and community and he dreamed early of the day when he could help make it possible ""for everyone to have the best to read."" This day came after an education at Hull House and the University of Chicago, an apprenticeship at Butterick's and Survey Associates, a tour of duty for OWI in wartime London. After the war he arranged with Allen Lane of Penguin to publish books of genuine quality at a low price; a complete severance made way in 1948 for the birth of NAL. Weybright's description of life at NAL, where he variously bought Jowett's Plato and I the Jury, is good publishing history: his alienation from his associate Kurt Enoch, and NAL after the Times-Mirror takeover leads to some pained and painfully vindictive writing that takes this out of the general reader category into publishing annals.

Pub Date: Sept. 22, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow-Reynal

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION