Faber and Faber
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Faber and Faber is a celebrated independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, drama and film books, and books for children. In 2006 the company was named Publisher of the Year.
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[edit] Origins
The firm was founded in 1925 as Faber and Gwyer, as a successor to The Scientific Press, owned by Sir Maurice and Lady Gwyer. They brought in Geoffrey Faber, then a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. In 1929 the partnership in the firm was terminated, and the name Faber and Faber was then adopted; although Geoffrey Faber was the only Faber in the firm it was deemed that adding a second Faber to the firm's name would confer a little class.
[edit] Role in publishing
It played an important part in twentieth century British and world literature, publishing widely in the fields of novels and literary criticism, as well as poetry and drama. It has employed distinguished literary figures as editors; as well as T. S. Eliot (until 1965), these include William Plomer and Craig Raine. They also published the works of Nobel Laureate William Golding.
An early commercial success was Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man, by Siegfried Sassoon (1928), at first issued anonymously.
The Faber Book of Modern Verse was an influential anthology, first edited by Michael Roberts.
Faber's American arm was sold in 1998 to Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where it remains an active imprint focusing on the arts and entertainment.
Faber and Faber is one of the few remaining publishing houses which still accept unsolicited submissions of poetry. However, they no longer accept any other types of unsolicited manuscripts.
[edit] See also
- Faber Book of Irish Verse
- Faber Book of Modern American Verse
- Faber Book of Twentieth Century Verse
- Faber Book of Twentieth-Century Women's Poetry
- Modern Scottish Poetry (Faber)
