On 4 August 1914, England declared war on Germany. On the
very same day a new book publisher by the name of George Allen & Unwin Ltd
opened for business in London with Stanley Unwin at its head.
He bought an ailing publishing company called George Allen &
Company and shrewdly added his name at the end, knowing that most booksellers
in those days paid their monthly accounts alphabetically.
So came together the two names that one hundred years later make
up today’s Australasian-based Allen & Unwin, with offices in Sydney,
Melbourne, Auckland and indeed London.
Today, Allen & Unwin publishes 250 new books each year
including literary and commercial fiction, a broad range of general and
non-fiction, including New Zealand, academic and professional titles and books
for children and young adults.
Allen & Unwin is the ANZ agent for Atlantic Books and Corvus,
Bloomsbury and A&C Black, Canongate, Faber & Faber, Granta and
Portobello, Icon Books, Nicholas Brealey, Profile and Serpent’s Tail, Short
Books, Nosy Crow and V&A.
To celebrate its centenary, the company is producing A
Hundred Years of Allen & Unwin, a limited edition hardback gift by chairman
Patrick Gallagher and executive director Paul Donovan, for its authors and
staff, booksellers, media and friends.
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