Forty Books for Forty Years
Title Details

112 Pages

23.4 x 15.6 cm

7 colour illus.

Imprint: Boydell Press

Forty Books for Forty Years

An Informal History of The Boydell Press

by Richard Barber

  • Description
  • Author
Books define the character of a publishing house better than any account of its business transactions or its organisation. This selection of forty books to mark the fortieth anniversary of Boydell & Brewer reflects the evolution of the company and the changing focus of its activities. It began as the Boydell Press, a very small and very general operation and is now a group of primarily academic imprints. The story of the company's progress and developmentis told through the books, with a strong emphasis on authors and supporters and the occasions linked to the books. Reading Beowulf by firelight on Mound One at Sutton Hoo on an October evening; holding a tournament on the castlemeadow at Framlingham; renting Orford castle for the day; giving the Pepys Dinner in association with Magdalene College - all these add colour to the routine business of publishing. But there is a more serious side. During the 1970s and 1980s, dissatisfaction with the inflexibility of academic publishing led scholars and independent publishers to set up companies designed to serve the needs of their specialised fields. Four such firms, D.S. Brewer, Tamesis, Camden House and James Currey, together with the University of Rochester Press (created in collaboration with the University) make up the Boydell & Brewer Group of today.

RICHARD BARBER has had a huge influence on the study of medieval history and literature, as both a writer and a publisher. His first book on the Arthurian legend appeared in 1961, and his major works include The Knight and Chivalry (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 1971), Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, The Penguin Guide to Medieval Europe and The Holy Grail: the History of a Legend which was widely praised and was translated into six languages.

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9781843835547

December 2009

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Title Details

112 Pages

2.34 x 1.56 cm

7 colour illus.

Imprint: Boydell Press