Publisher adept at balancing the demands of literature and commerce, and a notable writer on art
Tom Rosenthal, centre, at the launch of his book on LS Lowry, with Joan Bakewell and Ian McKellen in 2010. Photograph: Dan Wooller/Rex
In his prime, with his coloured shirts, red braces, bright bow ties and macho cigars there were few more flamboyant London publishers than Tom Rosenthal, who has died aged 78. But the extravagant top dressing disguised a high intellect that ensured that during the 1970s and early 80s the publishing house of Secker and Warburg was very much premier league.
During his time at the helm, the firm profitably mixed literature and commerce. The list of authors, some inherited, some new, was mainly fiction-driven, its impressive phalanx of talent including, from the UK, Malcolm Bradbury, David Lodge, Tom Sharpe and Melvyn Bragg; from South Africa, the future two times Man Booker winner JM Coetzee; from mainland Europe, Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino and Günter Grass; and from the Americas, James Michener, George V Higgins, Carlos Fuentes and Saul Bellow.
Publishing was not his only professional talent. His lifelong enthusiasm for mid-20th-century art lead to a stint as art critic of the Listener and later the New Statesman. Among painters he admired were Jack B Yeats, John Piper, Ivon Hitchens, Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Paula Rego and particularly LS Lowry, whom he championed when the art establishment dismissed him. In the 1960s, following an interview with Lowry for BBC Radio 3 he bought a small Lowry oil for £60. It was the start of a collection.
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Obituary:
Tom Rosenthal
Tom Rosenthal, publisher at Heinemann/Secker and Andre Deutsch, has died aged 78 following a long battle with cancer. It is almost two decades since Rosenthal left publishing's main stage, and many in the trade today will know nothing of a man who was once one of its great characters. He published such authors as James Michener, George V. Higgins and Gore Vidal. more » »
During his time at the helm, the firm profitably mixed literature and commerce. The list of authors, some inherited, some new, was mainly fiction-driven, its impressive phalanx of talent including, from the UK, Malcolm Bradbury, David Lodge, Tom Sharpe and Melvyn Bragg; from South Africa, the future two times Man Booker winner JM Coetzee; from mainland Europe, Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino and Günter Grass; and from the Americas, James Michener, George V Higgins, Carlos Fuentes and Saul Bellow.
Publishing was not his only professional talent. His lifelong enthusiasm for mid-20th-century art lead to a stint as art critic of the Listener and later the New Statesman. Among painters he admired were Jack B Yeats, John Piper, Ivon Hitchens, Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Paula Rego and particularly LS Lowry, whom he championed when the art establishment dismissed him. In the 1960s, following an interview with Lowry for BBC Radio 3 he bought a small Lowry oil for £60. It was the start of a collection.
More
And from PW
Obituary:
Tom Rosenthal Tom Rosenthal, publisher at Heinemann/Secker and Andre Deutsch, has died aged 78 following a long battle with cancer. It is almost two decades since Rosenthal left publishing's main stage, and many in the trade today will know nothing of a man who was once one of its great characters. He published such authors as James Michener, George V. Higgins and Gore Vidal. more » »
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