David Geoffrey Bles (5 September 1886 – 3 April 1957) was a British publisher, with a reputation for spotting new talent. He started his eponymous publishing firm in London in 1923 and published the first five books of

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

' ''Narnia'' series.

Early life

Bles read Greats at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, followed by entry to the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

.Hooper, Walter. (2004) ''Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, The: Books, Broadcasts and the War, 1931–1949''. London:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, p. 554. During the First World War he was commissioned into the Indian Army Reserve of Officers in October 1917 and was attached to the 17th Cavalry,

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

, in November 1917.''The Star and Crescent'' by Major F. C. C. Yeats-Brown He served in the Political Department in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

in 1918 before demobilization in June 1919 and returning to the Indian Civil Service. On 3 January 1920, he married Evelyn Constance Halse.

Publishing career

Bles entered publishing in 1923. Geoffrey Bles Limited were general publishers, but with a specialism in religion and translated works. Among the authors Bles published were:

, J. B. Phillips, Cecil Street, Mabel Lethbridge, Halliday Sutherland, Vicki Baum,"Mr. Geoffrey Bles." Sir James Hutchinson, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 6 April 1957, p. 11. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 September 2014. and

Maria von Trapp Maria Augusta von Trapp Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic), DHS (; 26 January 1905 – 28 March 1987), often styled as "Baroness", was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family, Trapp Family Singers. She wrote ''The Story of the ...

. Baum's '' Grand Hotel'' (1930), originally published in German, was a huge commercial success for Bles. Bles was introduced to C. S. Lewis through his employee Ashley Sampson (1900–1947) who owned the Centenary Press. Bles bought that company and merged it with his own, thus acquiring Lewis as an author. Lewis's key religious work, ''

The Problem of Pain ''The Problem of Pain'' is a 1940 book on the problem of evil by C. S. Lewis, in which Lewis argues that human pain, animal pain, and hell are not sufficient reasons to reject belief in a good and powerful God. Lewis states that his writin ...

'', was published jointly by Bles and Centenary Press in 1940, as were his '' Beyond Personality: The Christian Idea of God'' (1944) and ''The Great Divorce: A Dream'' (1945). Bles published on his own Lewis' '' The Screwtape Letters'' (1942), ''

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' is a portal fantasy novel written by British author C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956 ...

'' (1950), and the next four in the Narnia series up to '' The Horse and his Boy'' (1954). For the last two books in the series Lewis moved to

Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1887 by John Lane and Elkin Mathews, The Bodley Head existed as an independent entity or as part of multiple consortia until it was acquired by Random ...

.Scott, Jonathan. (2009) ''The Rare Book Price Guide 2010''. London: Diamond Publishing, p. 420. William Collins publishers bought the firm of Geoffrey Bles in 1953, and Bles retired within a year or two. Books continued to be published under the Bles imprint into the 1970s.Geoffrey Bles.
Aust Lit. Retrieved 2 September 2014. The Garnstone Press purchased the Geoffrey Bles name from Collins in 1971."Sir Ian Anstruther of that Ilk." Michael Balfour, ''The Times'', 11 August 2007, p. 60. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 September 2014. Following his death, correspondents commented in ''

'' on his personal suitability to the genteel world of literary publishing.

Outside publishing

Bles was a member of the board of Charing Cross Hospital for many years."Mr. Geoffrey Bles." J.G.L., ''The Times'', 8 April 1957, p. 14. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 September 2014. His great nephew is the writer William Mortimer Moore whose ''Free France's Lion: The Life of Philippe Leclerc, de Gaulle's Greatest General'' was published in 2011 and is dedicated to Bles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bles, Geoffrey 1957 deaths 1886 births British publishers (people) Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom British Indian Army officers