Studio Vista was a British publishing company founded in 1961 that specialised in leisure and design topics. In the 1960s, the firm published works by a number of authors who went on to be noted designers. The imprint was later integrated into Cassell.

History

Studio Vista was founded by Cecil Harmsworth King and it was then purchased by the Rev.

Timothy Beaumont Timothy Wentworth Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley (22 November 1928 – 8 April 2008) was a British politician and an Anglican priest. He was politically active, successively, in the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party ...

, later Baron Beaumont of Whitley, with funding from Beaumont's fortune. In 1961, David Mark Herbert joined the firm, becoming its editorial director and then chief executive.Robert Cross
"Obituary: David Herbert"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 22 November 1996. Retrieved 27 January 2020. After Beaumont entered politics, he sold his publishing interests and Studio Vista was bought by the American firm Collier Macmillan in 1968. In 1969, the publisher

Frances Lincoln Frances Elisabeth Rosemary Lincoln (20 March 1945 – 26 February 2001) was an English independent publisher of illustrated books. She published under her own name and the company went on to become Frances Lincoln Publishers. In 1995, Lincoln w ...

joined the firm as an editorial assistant, staying for six years and rising to the position of managing editor. In 1975, Frances Lincoln led a strike at the firm after the new owners threatened to make 40 people redundant. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, some of Studio Vista's titles (including William Klein's 1959 photo essay on

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

) and series (such as the Vista Travel guides and The Pocket Poets) were published under the publisher names of "Vista Books" and " Edward Hulton".

Books

Among the notable books published by the firm were ''The Nature of Design'' by the furniture designer David Pye (1964) and ''Graphics Handbook'' by the graphic designer Ken Garland (1966) (both in the Studio Vista/Van Nostrand Reinhold Art Paperbacks series edited by

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

), Norman Potter's ''What is a Designer: Education and Practice'' (1969), and Gillian Naylor's ''The Bauhaus'' (1968). The firm also published a number of books by the Romanian architect Serban Cantacuzino.

Book series

* Aquarium Paperbacks''Cassell's Directory of Publishing in Great Britain, the Commonwealth, Ireland and South Africa'', London: Cassell, 1970, 6th edition, p. 119. * Blues Paperbacks (edited by

Paul Oliver Paul Hereford Oliver MBE (25 May 1927 – 15 August 2017) was an English architectural historian and writer on the blues and other forms of African-American music. He was equally distinguished in both fields, although it is likely that afici ...

) * Christie's South Kensington Collectors Series (in association with

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

Contemporary Art) * City Buildings * Collectors' Blue Books * Creative Sewing Series (in association with the Singer Company) * Elements of Painting Series * Facts of Print * Field Sports Handbooks * Gold Series * Great Ages of World Architecture * Great Drawings of the World * Hadfield Anthologies * Knowing and Doing * Leaders of Modern Thought * Movie Paperbacks (jointly published in the U.S. as Praeger Film Library by Praeger Publishing and by

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

) * New Directions in Architecture * Picturebacks (also referred to as: Studio Vista , Dutton Picturebacks) (published in the U.S. by

E. P. Dutton E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group. Creator Edward Payson Dutton (January 1, ...

) * Planning and Cities * Plan Your Home * Pocket How-To-Do-Its (also known as: Pocket How To Do It) (jointly published in the U.S. by

Watson-Guptill Watson-Guptill is an American publisher of instructional books in the arts. History The company was founded in 1937 by Ernest William Watson, Ralph Reinhold, and Arthur L. Guptill. They also published the magazine ''American Artist''. Their head ...

) * The Pocket Poets * Rockbooks * Small Garden Library * Studio Drawing Books * Studio Handbooks * Studio Paperbacks * Studio Vista/Van Nostrand Reinhold Art Paperbacks * Vision + Value Series * Vista TravelVista Travel (Studio Vista) - Book Series List
publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 7 March 2020. * Visual History of Modern Britain

References

External links

In praise of Studio Vista, Ken Garland and the good old days
by Rob Waller
Studio Vista at openlibrary.orgSerban Cantacuzino
{{Authority control Publishing companies based in London Publishing companies established in 1961 1961 establishments in England

History

Books

Book series

See also

References

External links