Paul Elek (1906–1976)"Paul Elek"
Obituaries, ''AJR Information'', Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain, Vol. XXXI, No. 12, Dec. 1976, p. 11. Retrieved 24 January 2024. was a British publisher and the founder of the firm Paul Elek Publishers.

Life and career

Born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, in 1906 to a family with a publishing background, Elek migrated to Britain in 1938, having "fallen foul" of the Horthy administration "because of his liberal views". Upon arrival, he set up, together with his wife Elizabeth, a publishing firm named "Elek Books" (later "Paul Elek Publishers"). During the Second World War, the firm published "technical and scientific books", subject areas that were popular during the war. From 1943, Paul Elek published a number of "high-class" and often large-format books on art and architecture, including several series, Ancient Cities and Temples, The Making of History, Centres of Art and Civilization, and a short series, name unknown, of highly illustrated books on mediaeval architecture. One of the volumes, ''Lost Cities of Asia'', in the series Centres of Art and Civilization, states that it is the first in a new series, each volume focusing on three cities, but subsequent volumes showed it as part of the original series. In many of the volumes the photography was by Wim Swaan and Edwin Smith, shown below by (WS) and (ES). Elek published scholarly works on contemporary history, including A. J. Sherman's ''Island Refuge : Britain and Refugees from the Third Reich, 1933–1939'' (1973), "a study of Britain's attitudes to refugees after 1933", and ''The History of Anti-Semitism'' (1966– ), a multivolume translation of

Léon Poliakov Léon Poliakov (; 25 November 1910 – 8 December 1997) was a French historian who wrote extensively on the Holocaust and antisemitism. He is the author of ''The Aryan Myth''. Biography Born into a Russian Jewish family, Poliakov lived in Italy ...

's ''Histoire de l'antisémitisme''. He also published a number of "popular war reminiscences", including Richard Pape's first book, ''Boldness Be My Friend'', which would save his firm from bankruptcy. That book was an account of Pape's Second World War adventures as a navigator in a Lancaster bomber that was shot down close to the German/Dutch border, and his captures and escapes. The book was brought to

Anthony Blond Anthony Bernard Blond (20 March 1928 – 27 February 2008) was a British publisher and author, who was involved with several publishing companies over his career, including several he established himself, or in partnerships, from 1952. Biograph ...

's London literary agency in 1952 by Vanora McIndoe, the daughter of Sir Archie McIndoe, from Pape who was hospitalized in

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

, and having plastic surgery, following a drunken motorcycle accident on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. After being read and approved by Blond's colleague

Isabel Colegate Isabel Diana Colegate (10 September 1931 – 12 March 2023) was a British author and literary agent. Early life and education Born in Paddington in London, England, Colegate was the youngest of her parents' four daughters. Her father was Arthu ...

, the book was published by Elek, who gave a £600 advance. It sold 160,000 copies at 16 shillings each, and Elek avoided bankruptcy. Elek was himself an author who published ''This Other London'' (1951) with illustrations by David Knight. He edited the anthology ''The Age of the Grand Tour'' (1967). After his death, his publishing interests – "Paul Elek Ltd..., London, along with its subsidiary companies, Elek Books Ltd and Paul Elek (Scientific Books) Ltd" – were sold to Granada Publishing, whose publishing interests were, in turn, acquired by

William Collins, Sons William Collins, Sons & Co., often referred to as Collins, was a Scotland, Scottish printing and publishing company founded by a Presbyterianism, Presbyterian schoolmaster, William Collins (publisher), William Collins, in Glasgow in 1819, in par ...

, of Glasgow, in 1988.

Selected publications

''The Gothic Cathedral'', Wim Swaan (1969)
''Castles of Europe'', William Anderson (WS) (1970)
''Monasteries of the World'', Christopher Brooke (WS) (1974)
''The Late Middle Ages'', Wim Swaan (1977)

Ancient Cities and Temples
''Babylon'', Albert Champdor (1958)
''Jerusalem'', Michel Join-Lambert (1958)
''Ethiopia'', Jean Doresse (1959)Ancient Cities and Temples (Elek Books) - Book Series List
publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
''Maya Cities'', Paul Rivet (1960)
'' Carthage'', Gilbert Picard (1964)

The Making of History
''The Age of Charlemagne'', Donald Bullough (ES) (1965)
''The Age of Plantagenet and Valois'', Kenneth Fowler (WS, ES) (1967)
''The Age of Augustus'', Donald Earl (1968)

Centres of Art and Civilization
''Pompeii & Herculaneum'',

Marcel Brion Marcel Brion (; 21 November 1895 – 23 October 1984) was a French essayist, literary critic, novelist, and historian. Early life The son of a lawyer, Brion was classmates in Thiers with Marcel Pagnol and Albert Cohen. After completing his ...

(ES) (1960)
''Imperial Peking'', Lin Yutang (1961)
''Venice the Masque of Italy'',

(ES) (1962)
''Moorish Spain'', Enrique Sordo (WS) (1963)
''Mecca the Blessed Madinah the Radiant'', Emel Esin (1963)
''Athens'', Angelo Procopiou (ES) (1964)
''Constantinople'',

David Talbot Rice David Talbot Rice (11 July 1903 – 12 March 1972) was an English archaeologist and art historian. He has been described variously as a "gentleman academic" and an "amateur" art historian, though such remarks are not borne out by his many achi ...

(WS) (1965)
''Thebes of the Pharaohs'', Charles F. Nims (WS) (1965)
''Isfahan, Pearl of Persia'', Wilfrid Blunt (WS) (1966)
''Lost Cities of Asia'', Wim Swaan (1966)
''Tibet, Land of Snows'',

Giuseppe Tucci Giuseppe Tucci (; 5 June 1894 – 5 April 1984) was an Italian orientalist, Indologist and scholar of East Asian studies, specializing in Tibetan culture and the history of Buddhism. During its zenith, Tucci was a supporter of Italian fascism ...

(WS, ES) (1967)
''Morocco'', Rom Landau (WS) (1967)
''Cities of Mughal India'', Gavin Hambly (WS) (1968)
''Flemish Cities'', William Gaunt (WS) (1969)
''Rome'', Stewart Perowne (ES) (1971)

Other books
''The Medici'',

(WS) (1969)
''Lucknow: the Last Phase of an Oriental Culture'', Abdul Halim Sharar (1975)
''The Hindu Temple'', George Michell (1977)

Life and career

Selected publications

Book series

References

Further reading