Michael Joseph (26 September 1897 – 15 March 1958) was a British publisher and writer.

Early life and career

Joseph was born in

Upper Clapton Clapton is a district of East London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. Clapton is divided into Upper Clapton, in the north, and Lower Clapton to the south. Clapton railway station lies north-east of Charing Cross. Geography and origi ...

, London. He served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and then embarked on a writing career, his first book being ''Short Story Writing for Profit'' (1923). After a period as a literary agent for Curtis Brown, Joseph founded his own publishing imprint as a subsidiary of

Victor Gollancz Ltd Victor Gollancz Ltd () was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group. Gollancz was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz, an ...

. Gollancz invested £4000 in Michael Joseph Ltd, established 5 September 1935. Joseph and

Victor Gollancz Sir Victor Gollancz (; 9 April 1893 – 8 February 1967) was a British publisher and humanitarian. Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing causes. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism, but he defined himself as a Chris ...

disagreed on many points and Michael Joseph bought out Gollancz Ltd in 1938 after Gollancz attempted to censor ''Across the Frontiers'' by Sir

Philip Gibbs Sir Philip Armand Hamilton Gibbs KBE (1 May 1877 – 10 March 1962) was an English journalist and prolific author of books who served as one of five official British reporters during the First World War. Four of his siblings were also write ...

on political grounds. (Joseph published the first edition in 1938 and a revised edition the following May.) Joseph managed to build up an impressive list of authors, such as

H. E. Bates Herbert Ernest Bates (16 May 1905 – 29 January 1974), better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer. His best-known works include ''Love for Lydia'', '' The Darling Buds of May'', and '' My Uncle Silas''. Early life H.E. Bates was ...

, C. S. Forester,

Monica Dickens Monica Enid Dickens, MBE (10 May 1915 – 25 December 1992) was an English writer, the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Biography Known as "Monty" to her family and friends, she was born into an upper-middle-class London family to Henr ...

, and

Richard Llewellyn Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd (; 8 December 1906 – 30 November 1983), known by his pen name Richard Llewellyn ( , ), was an English-born novelist of Welsh descent, who is best remembered for his 1939 novel '' How Green Was My Va ...

Personal life

Joseph married actress

Hermione Gingold Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold (; 9 December 189724 May 1987) was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric character. Her signature drawling, deep voice was a result of nodules on her vocal cords she developed in the 1920s and e ...

in 1918 and they had two sons, Leslie and

Stephen Joseph Stephen Joseph (13 June 1921 – 4 October 1967)Colin Chambers (ed.) ''The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre,'' London: Continuum, 2002, p.410 was an English stage director and pioneer of "theatre in the round." Life Stephen J ...

. (The Stephen Joseph Theatre in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

, established by the latter in 1955, was Britain's first

theatre in the round A theatre in the round, arena theatre or central staging is a space for theatre in which the audience surrounds the stage. Theatre-in-the-round was common in ancient theatre, particularly that of Greece and Rome, but was not widely explored aga ...

.) The couple divorced in 1926 and Joseph promptly married Edna Victoria Nellie Frost, with whom he had a daughter Shirley and son Richard. Richard established a very successful career in printing and then later running his own publishing company. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had a son, Adam Joseph and daughter, Rachel Joseph. Edna died in 1949 and Joseph's third marriage the next year was to Anthea Esther Hodson, with whom he had a daughter Charlotte and son Hugh. Anthea ran the publishing business after her husband's death.Victor Morrison
"Joseph , Anthea Esther (1924–1981)"
rev. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 9 April 2017.

Death

Michael Joseph died of

septicaemia Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

after a delayed medical operation in 1958.

Michael Joseph Ltd from 1958

After Joseph died, his widow Anthea Joseph rescued the publishing company Michael Joseph Ltd, from the ensuing crisis. In 1985, Michael Joseph Ltd was acquired by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.e leading commercial fiction and non-fiction imprint of Penguin Books", specialising in "women’s fiction, crime, thrillers, cookery, memoirs and lifestyle books".

Books written by Michael Joseph

* ''Short Story Writing for Profit'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1923) * ''Journalism for Profit'' (1924) * ''The Commercial Side of Literature'' (Hutchinson, 1925) * ''How to Write a Short Story'' (Hutchinson, 1926) * ''How to Write Serial Fiction'' (Hutchinson, 1927); US edition, Holt, 1928, "by Michael Joseph and Marten Cumberland" * ''The Magazine Story: with ten examples analysed by Michael Joseph'' (Hutchinson, 1928) * ''The Autobiography of a Journalist'' (Hutchinson, 1929), ed. and introduced by Josep
The autobiography of a journalist
– uncertain role * ''Cat's Company'' (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1930), "illustrations ... are from drawings made by a celebrated German artist, B. F. Dolbin"; later illus. Clare Dawson (Chicago:

Ziff-Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, an ...

, 1947) * ''A Book of Cats, being twenty drawings by Foujita; poems in prose by Michael Joseph'' (New York: Covici-Friede, 1930), artwork by

Tsuguharu Foujita was a Japanese–French painter and printmaker born in Tokyo, Japan, who applied Japanese ink techniques to Western style paintings. At the height of his fame in Paris, during the 1920s, he was known for his portraits of nudes using an opalescen ...

* ''This Writing Business'' (

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...

, 1931), 32 pp * ''Puss in Books: A Collection of Stories about Cats'' (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1932), ed. Elizabeth Drew and Joseph, illus. A. R. Wheelan * ''Heads or Tails'' (1933), with Selwyn Johnson * ''Discovery, A Play in Three Acts'' (Gollancz, 1934) * ''Kittens and Cats'' (Racine: Whitman, 1938) * ''The Sword in the Scabbard'' (Joseph, 1942) * ''Charles: The Story of a Friendship'' (Joseph, 1943), 91 pp. * ''Complete Writing for Profit'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1938), 1097 pp. * ''The Adventure of Publishing'' (London: Allan Wingate, 1949) * ''Best Cat Stories'' (Faber, 1952), ed. Joseph, illus.

Eileen Mayo Dame Eileen Rosemary Mayo (11 September 1906 – 4 January 1994) was an English artist and designer who worked in England, Australia and New Zealand in almost every available medium – drawings, woodcuts, lithographs on stone and tempera, tapes ...

Authors and series published by Michael Joseph Ltd

Authors on Michael Joseph Ltd.’s list included

Vicki Baum Hedwig "Vicki" Baum (; he, ויקי באום; January 24, 1888 – August 29, 1960) was an Austrian writer. She is known for the novel ''Menschen im Hotel'' ("People at a Hotel", 1929 — published in English as '' Grand Hotel''), one of h ...

Joyce Cary Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary (7 December 1888 – 29 March 1957) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and colonial official. Early life and education Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary was born in his grandparents' home, above the Belfast Bank in Derry, Ireland in 1 ...

, C. S. Forester,

Paul Gallico Paul William Gallico (July 26, 1897 – July 15, 1976) was an American novelist and short story and sports writer.Ivins, Molly,, ''The New York Times'', July 17, 1976. Retrieved Oct. 25, 2020. Many of his works were adapted for motion pictu ...

, Richard Gordon,

Barry Hines Melvin Barry Hines, FRSL (30 June 1939 – 18 March 2016) was an English author, playwright and screenwriter. His novels and screenplays explore the political and economic struggles of working-class Northern England, particularly in his native ...

, D. F. Karaka,

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

Vita Sackville-West Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson, CH (née Sackville-West; 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and garden designer. Sackville-West was a successful novelist, poet and journalist, as wel ...

and Derek Tangye. Book series published by the firm included the Carfax Editions, Mermaid Books, The Minack Chronicles and The Rosemary Library.Publishers & Series List
owu.edu. Retrieved 5 October 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Michael 1897 births 1958 deaths Publishers (people) from London English memoirists English self-help writers People from Upper Clapton Deaths from sepsis British Army personnel of World War I 20th-century English businesspeople