Stanley Unwin

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"You are one of those rare people with genius, and, unlike some publishers, it is a word I have not used half a dozen times in thirty years of publishing"
― Stanley Unwin to J.R.R. Tolkien<ref>J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 18, (dated 23 October 1937), p. 25
Sir Stanley Unwin by Walter Stoneman. © National Portrait Gallery

Sir Stanley Unwin (19 December 188413 October 1968) was a British publisher who co-founded the George Allen and Unwin house on 4 August 1914.

In 1936 J.R.R. Tolkien submitted The Hobbit for publication, and Unwin paid his ten-year-old son Rayner a few pence to write a report on the manuscript. Rayner's favourable response prompted Unwin to publish the book. Once the book became a success Unwin asked Tolkien for a sequel, which eventually became The Lord of the Rings.

Bibliography, selected

  • 1960: The Truth about a Publisher (includes mention of the publishing of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings)

See Also