26-575: Fredric John Warburg (27 November 1898 – 25 May 1981) was a British publisher, who in 1935 founded the company Secker & Warburg . He is best known for his association with the author George Orwell . During a career spanning a large part of the 20th century and ending in 1971, Warburg published Orwell's major books Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), as well as works by other leading figures such as Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka . Other notable publications included The Third Eye by Lobsang Rampa , Pierre Boulle 's The Bridge over
52-425: A translation of The Blood of Others by Simone de Beauvoir - these were published by Secker, along with major works of the era including George Orwell 's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm , and works by Theodore Roethke , Alberto Moravia , Günter Grass , Angus Wilson , Julian Gloag , and Melvyn Bragg . The private letters of writer and Bloomsbury Group member Lytton Strachey reveal that Senhouse
78-521: Is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press . Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker , which was in receivership, by Fredric Warburg and Roger Senhouse . The firm became renowned for its political stance, being both anti-fascist and anti-communist , a position that put them at loggerheads with
104-481: Is an imprint of Vintage Publishing UK. Roger Senhouse Roger Henry Pocklington Senhouse (18 November 1899 – 31 August 1970) was an English publisher and translator, and a peripheral member of the Bloomsbury Group of writers, intellectuals, and artists. He had a sado-masochistic sexual relationship with Bloomsbury Group member Lytton Strachey . Roger Henry Pockington Senhouse
130-415: The anti-Stalinist left , such as Minty Alley , World Revolution , and The Black Jacobins by C. L. R. James , Rudolf Rocker and Boris Souvarine , as well as works by Lewis Mumford . In February 1941, the company launched a series of "long pamphlets" or "short books" called Searchlight Books , edited by George Orwell and T. R. Fyvel . The series was originally planned to include 17 books, but
156-690: The British Buddhist Lobsang Rampa . Heinemann was purchased by the Octopus Publishing Group in 1985; Octopus was purchased by Reed International (now Reed Elsevier ) in 1987. Random House bought the adult trade division of Reed Books in February 1997. Tom Rosenthal (1935–2014), chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Arts , was head of Secker & Warburg from 1971 to 1984. The Harvill Press
182-524: The British tradition". With its financial position devastated by paper shortages during and after the war, Secker & Warburg was forced to join the Heinemann publishing group in 1952. During the 1950s and 1960s, Secker & Warburg published books by authors including Simone de Beauvoir , Colette , Alberto Moravia , Günter Grass , Angus Wilson , Melvyn Bragg and Julian Gloag . In 1961, Warburg
208-734: The River Kwai , Adolf Hitler 's Mein Kampf and William Shirer 's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich . Warburg is an important figure in the history and study of Cold War propaganda due to his work with Orwell's widow Sonia Orwell in a collaboration with the Information Research Department (IRD) , a secret propaganda wing of the British Foreign Office , which helped to increase
234-465: The USSR . When George Orwell parted company with Victor Gollancz , over publication of The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), it was to Secker & Warburg that he took his next book, Homage to Catalonia (1938). The firm published all of Orwell's books from then on, and he and Warburg became intimate friends. In 1940, Warburg introduced Orwell to another of his firm's authors, T. R. Fyvel , and between
260-406: The age of 82. Warburg started his publishing career in 1922, as an apprentice at Routledge & Sons, where he came under the tutelage of William Swan Stallybrass , a man he regarded as "the greatest scholar-publisher of his day". After Stallybrass died in 1931, Warburg became increasingly dissatisfied with Routledge and in 1935 he was dismissed. Later that year, he and Roger Senhouse purchased
286-488: The age of nine, Fredric Warburg was sent to Wilkinson's boys' preparatory school. He later won a scholarship to Westminster School . He recalled his first two years there as "among the most hateful of my life". While he excelled academically, as a Jew he often felt an outsider. He found refuge and solace in his love of books. In summer 1917, Warburg was commissioned to serve as an officer in the Royal Artillery . He
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#1732775465183312-624: The author of Peter Pan became legal guardian of the Llewellyn Davies boys on the death of their parents. Robert Boothby , who was a friend of Senhouse and Davies during that period and himself bisexual said in a 1976 interview that the relationship between Senhouse and Davies was "fleetingly" homosexual in nature. In 1935, Senhouse became co-owner with Fredric Warburg of the publishing house which became Secker & Warburg , rescuing it from receivership. Senhouse translated several works by French novelist Colette , and collaborated on
338-627: The creation of the 1954 propaganda film Animal Farm , which became the first feature-length animated film ever to be made in Britain. Warburg was born on 27 November 1898 in Paddington , London, to John Cimon Warburg (1867, London – 1931, London), a photographer, and his wife Violet Amalia (1868, Melbourne – 1925, London) ( née Sichel), both of Jewish descent. John Cimon was the oldest son of Fredric Elias Warburg (1832, Gothenburg , Sweden – 1899, London) and Emma (1844–1925) ( née Raphael). At
364-523: The ethos of many intellectuals of the time. When George Orwell parted company with Communist Party sympathizer Victor Gollancz over his editing of The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), he took his next book Homage to Catalonia to Secker & Warburg, who published it in 1938. They also published, after 18 months of rejections and setbacks, Animal Farm (1945), and Orwell's subsequent books. Orwell and Warburg later became intimate friends. Secker & Warburg published other books by key figures of
390-556: The fame of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four . With Warburg's support, the IRD was able to translate Animal Farm into more than 16 different languages, and for British embassies to disseminate the book in more than 14 countries for propaganda purposes. Warburg was also involved in the sale of the film rights to Animal Farm to the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) . This deal resulted in
416-540: The painter and designer Pamela Bryer (née de Bayou, widowed) (20 March 1905–1978). They had a son who died of a brain haemorrhage within 24 hours of his birth, on 13 March 1933. During the Second World War, Warburg served as a corporal in the Home Guard , in the same section in which Orwell held the rank of sergeant. Warburg died of heart failure at University College Hospital , London, on 25 May 1981, at
442-468: The publishing firm of Martin Secker , which had gone into receivership, and renamed it Secker & Warburg . The firm became renowned for its independent left-wing position, being both anti- fascist and anti- Communist , which put it at loggerheads with many intellectuals of the time. Among the books the firm published were C. L. R. James 's World Revolution , Reg Groves 's We Shall Rise Again , Boris Souvarine 's Stalin and André Gide 's Back from
468-425: The three of them they planned the creation of Searchlight Books . According to Trinidadian historian and politician Eric Williams (1911–1981), Warburg refused to publish his doctoral thesis (completed in 1938, which became the basis of his book Capitalism and Slavery , and argued that Britain's desire to abolish slavery was economical, not humanitarian, in nature), saying that "such a book... would be contrary to
494-604: The words of Warburg's friend T. R. Fyvel, to "promote western culture and defend it against the Communist culture of the East". The SCF produced a cultural magazine, Encounter , which received sustained criticism in the 1960s when it emerged that much of the money used to produce the magazine had come directly from the CIA , without the knowledge of most of its contributors and supporters, including Warburg. In 1954, Secker & Warburg
520-507: Was discontinued after the publication of 10 when bombing destroyed paper stocks. With its financial position devastated by paper shortages during and after the war, Secker & Warburg were forced to join the Heinemann group of publishers in 1951. During the 1950s and 1960s, Secker & Warburg published the works of, among others, Simone de Beauvoir , Colette , J. M. Coetzee , Alberto Moravia , Günter Grass , Angus Wilson , Michael Moorcock , Melvyn Bragg and Julian Gloag , as well as
546-598: Was founded in 1946 by Manya Harari and Marjorie Villiers. The imprint was later acquired by the Glasgow-based publishing firm William Collins and Sons , which in 1989, merged with the American publishers Harper & Row to form HarperCollins . In 1996, Harvill Press became independent following a management buyout. The firm was bought by Random House in 2002, and was merged with Secker & Warburg in 2005 to become Harvill Secker. As of 2019 , Harvill Secker
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#1732775465183572-564: Was made a director of the Heinemann group, a post he retained until his retirement in 1971. Warburg published two volumes of autobiography: An Occupation for Gentlemen (1959, described by Walter Allen as "the record of a vocation rather than the story of it author's intimate life") and All Authors are Equal (1973). In 1952 Warburg became a member of the committee of the Society for Cultural Freedom (SCF), an organisation established, in
598-523: Was prosecuted for obscenity after publishing The Philanderer , a novel by US writer Stanley Kauffmann . Warburg was offered the chance to plead guilty and escape with a minimal fine, but opted for trial by jury at the Old Bailey . The book was found not to be obscene and the summary by the presiding judge, at the trial, Sir Wintringham Stable , was added as an appendix to later editions of The Philanderer . Secker %26 Warburg Harvill Secker
624-597: Was stationed in the Ypres area until the end of the war. After the war he began studying chemistry at Christ Church, Oxford , but later switched to classics and philosophy, receiving his MA in 1922. Warburg's first marriage (5 July 1922), to May Nellie Holt (born 20 May 1902, Hampstead , North-West London), produced three sons: David (22 August 1923–10 November 1987), Hew Francis (8 April 1925–10 April 1983) and Jeremy Fredric (14 October 1928–9 June 1986). The marriage ended in divorce in 1932, and on 21 January 1933 Warburg married
650-584: Was the fourth and youngest son (there being also two daughters) of Humphrey Pocklington-Senhouse, JP , of Netherhall, Maryport , Cumberland (now Cumbria ), and Ashby St Ledgers , near Rugby, Warwickshire , Colonel of the Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry Cavalry, and his wife Florence Catherine (died 1920), daughter of Turner A. Macan, of Carriff, County Armagh, of a gentry family of Drumcashel. The Pocklington-Senhouse- originally Senhouse- family were landed gentry; Roger's grandmother, Elizabeth Senhouse,
676-477: Was the heir of the Senhouse family, her only brother having died unmarried. She married Joseph Pocklington, JP , of Barrow House- from a Nottinghamshire family recorded back to the reign of Henry VIII- who assumed his wife's surname. Senhouse attended both Eton College and Oxford University , where he was friends with Michael Llewelyn Davies , one of the boys upon whom Peter Pan was based. J. M. Barrie ,
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