Rupert Hart-Davis
Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis (28 August 1907 – 8 December 1999) was an English publisher and editor. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. As a biographer, he is remembered for his Hugh Walpole (1952), as an editor, for his Collected Letters of Oscar Wilde (1962), and, as both editor and part-author, for the Lyttelton/Hart-Davis Letters.
Rupert Hart-Davis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 August 1907 |
| Died | 8 December 1999 (aged 92) |
| Spouses | Catherine Comfort Borden-Turner
(m. 1933, divorced)Ruth Simon Ware
(m. 1964; died 1967)June Williams (m. 1968) |
| Children | 3, including Duff and Adam |
| Relatives | Deirdre Hart-Davis (sister) Duff Cooper (uncle) Alfred Cooper (grandfather) |
Working at a publishing firm before the Second World War, Hart-Davis began to forge literary relationships that would be important later in his career. Founding his publishing company in 1946, Hart-Davis was praised for the quality of the firm's publications and production; but he refused to cater to public tastes, and the firm eventually lost money. After relinquishing control of the firm, Hart-Davis concentrated on writing and editing, producing collections of letters and other works which brought him the sobriquet "the king of editors".