Victor Gollancz - The Publisher and Man

The Publisher and Man

Gollancz formed his own publishing company in 1927, publishing works by writers such as Ford Madox Ford and George Orwell (though Orwell went to Secker and Warburg from Homage to Catalonia on). The firm, Gollancz Ltd., published pacifist and socialist nonfiction as well as, by the mid 1930s, a solid selection of contemporary fiction, including authors such as Elizabeth Bowen, Daphne du Maurier, and Franz Kafka. While Gollancz published The Red Army Moves by Geoffrey Cox on the Winter War in 1941, he omitted some criticisms of the USSR.

Gollancz was one of the founders of the Left Book Club, the first book club in the UK. He had a knack for marketing, sometimes taking out full-page newspaper advertisements for the books he published, a novelty at the time. He also used eye-catching typography and book designs, and used yellow dust-covers on books. Starting in 1948, Gollancz made yearly scouting trips to the USA, by 1951 American books made up half of his publications.

Gollancz's politics started as those of the Liberal Party and Guild Socialism, by 1931 he joined the Labour Party. By the early 1930s he had started publishing left wing political works, in addition to his more popular titles. Although never a member, Gollancz was closely allied to the Communist Party during the second half of the 1930s. He finally broke with the party after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in 1939, and pledged himself to Christian Socialism. In the early 1940s, Gollancz was sympathetic to Richard Acland's socialist Common Wealth Party, and gave talks for the group before the general election of 1945. Although he never thought the party would win an election, he believed it represented a useful, socialist pressure group.

Religious faith was important part of Gollancz's life. His father was an Orthodox Jew with a very literal interpretation of his faith, Gollancz's dislike of this attitude coloured his approach to organised Judaism for much of his life, however he continued to practise many Jewish rituals at home. Gollancz often claimed to be a Christian, although he was never baptised and his understanding of the religion was a highly idiosyncratic one, overall his personal syncretic faith drew on Pelagian Christianity, Judaism, and wide-ranging reading across religious traditions. His faith manifested itself in a consciousness of bliss and his lifelong political and social campaigning. He compiled a number of books of religious writings, including A Year of Grace, From Darkness to Light, God of a Hundred Names and The New Year of Grace. Gollancz was also a keen music lover, an enthusiasm he explained in his final book, Journey Towards Music.

Gollancz was knighted in the summer of 1965.