Categories
  • British book publishers (people)
  • Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom
    •   Encyclosphere.org ENCYCLOREADER
      supported by EncyclosphereKSF

    Paul Elek

    From Wikipedia - Reading time: 4 min

    Paul Elek (died 1976)[1] was a British publisher and the founder of the firm Paul Elek Publishers.

    Life and career[edit]

    Born into a family with a publishing background in Hungary, Elek migrated to Britain in 1938, having "fallen foul" of the Horthy administration "because of his liberal views".[1]

    Upon arrival he set a publishing firm together with his wife Elizabeth. During the Second World War the firm published "technical and scientific books",[1] subject areas which were popular during the war.

    From 1943 Paul Elek published a number of "high class"[1] 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),[2] "a study of Britain's attitudes to refugees after 1933".[1]

    He also published a number of "popular war reminiscences",[1] 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.[3]

    The book was brought to Anthony Blond's London literary agency in 1952 by Vanora McIndoe, the daughter of Sir Archie McIndoe, from Pape who was hospitalized in East Grinstead, and having plastic surgery, following a drunken motorcycle accident on the Isle of Man. After being read and approved by Blond's colleague Isabel Colegate, the book was published by Elek, who gave a £600 advance. It sold 160,000 copies at 16 shillings each, and Elek avoided bankruptcy.[3]

    Elek was himself an author who published This Other London (Paul Elek Publishers, 1951) with illustrations by David Knight.[4]

    Selected publications of Paul Elek Publishers[edit]

    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)[5]
    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 (ES) (1960)
    Imperial Peking Lin Yutang (1961)
    Venice the Masque of Italy Marcel Brion (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 (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 (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 Marcel Brion (WS) (1969)
    Lucknow: the Last Phase of an Oriental Culture Abdul Halim Sharar (1975)
    The Hindu Temple George Michell (1977)

    Book series[edit]

    • Ancient Cities and Temples[6]
    • Archaeological Sites[7]
    • Bestseller Library[8]
    • Camden Classics (AKA Camden Illustrated Classics)[9]
    • Centres of Art and Civilization[10]
    • Environmental Studies[11]
    • Fibre Science Series[12]
    • Histories of Science Series[13]
    • Life and Leisure[14]
    • Master Painters[15]
    • Masterworks of Choral Music[16]
    • Monographs on British Economic Institutions[17]
    • Novelists and Their World[18]
    • The Making of History[19]
    • Psycholinguistics Series[20]
    • Science in Action[21]
    • Vision of England[22]

    References[edit]

    1. ^ a b c d e f "Paul Elek", Obituaries, AJR Information, Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain, Vol. XXXI, No. 12, Dec. 1976, p. 11. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
    2. ^ Island Refuge : Britain and Refugees from the Third Reich, 1933-1939, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 Feburary 2024.
    3. ^ a b Blond, Anthony (11 July 1995). "Obituary: Richard Pape". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
    4. ^ "London by Paul Elek". AbeBooks.co.uk. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
    5. ^ Ancient Cities and Temples (Elek Books) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    6. ^ "Ancient Cities and Temples" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    7. ^ "Archaeological Sites" + Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    8. ^ "Bestseller Library" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    9. ^ "Camden Classics" + Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    10. ^ "Centres of Art and Civilization" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    11. ^ "Environment Studies" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    12. ^ "Fibre Science Series" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    13. ^ se:Histories of science series, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    14. ^ "Life and Leisure" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    15. ^ "Master Painters" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    16. ^ "Masterworks of Choral Music" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    17. ^ se:Monographs on British economic institutions, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    18. ^ se:Novelists and their world, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    19. ^ "Making of History" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    20. ^ Psycholinguistics series, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    21. ^ "Science in Action" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    22. ^ "Vision of England" Elek, worldcat.org. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
    This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
    Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul Elek
    Status: article is cached
    Encyclosphere.org EncycloReader is supported by the EncyclosphereKSF