Publisher's Synopsis
After the death of Sir Basil Blackwell, his son Julian Blackwell had in mind the creation of a permanent memorial to his father, grandfather and great grandfather–three generations of B H Blackwell′s. What singled out these genteel and scholarly Blackwells was their ability to transform one small Oxford bookshops into an empire, in a trade not usually renowned for making anyone rich. And their history seemed in so many ways to chart our own. It mirrored the ascendancy of a new educated class, the growth of the new universities, the devolopment of mass culture and mass consumerism, Britain′s altered world role, the changing status of women and the family, the growth of a differentiated youth and children′s market, and the revolution in information technology. Although Blackwell′s, the firm, remains in the forefronth of academic bookselling and publishing, the people behind the name may have been in danger of fading away, like the Cheshire Cat′s grin. Their tales, however, have been preserved in Basil Blackwell′s private papers. Rita Ricketts has gathered these tales together and set them in their social, economic, political and literary context. Drawing on both written and verbal accounts, she paints a vivid picture of the life and times of those bookmen and women who made this great Oxford family firm. Basil Blackwell had intended to do the job himself, but despite his ninety–odd years he ran out of time. After his death, The Oxford Times declared ′the man can almost beheard in the printed record, as can Lord Melbourne and the Duke of Wellington′. This present volume recpatures the voices of three generations of Victorian Blackwells, yet the issues raised, from the overlapping worlds of literature, politcs, economics and education, have strong resonance today.
There is a foreword by Jessica Rawson, Warden of Merton College, Oxford.
