Paul Hamlyn

British publisher (1926–2001)

The Right Honourable

The Lord Hamlyn

CBE

Born|

Paul Bertrand Wolfgang Hamburger

12 February 1926

Berlin, Germany

Died| 31 August 2001 (age 75)
Occupation| Publisher
Title| Baron Hamlyn
Spouse(s)| Eileen Watson (dissolved 1969)
Helen Guest (1970–his death)[1]
Children| Michael, Jane

Paul Hamlyn, Baron Hamlyn, CBE (12 February 1926 – 31 August 2001) was a German-born British publisher and philanthropist, who established the Paul Hamlyn Foundation in 1987.

## Early life[edit]

He was born Paul Bertrand Wolfgang Hamburger in Berlin, Germany, in 1926. His parents were Richard Hamburger, a paediatrician at the Charité Hospital in Berlin, and his wife, Lili, a Quaker of Polish descent.

When the National Socialists came to power and his father was forced out of his profession, the Hamburger family, who were Jewish, moved to London. Upon their arrival, the family lived in St. John's Wood and the young Hamburger was educated at the St Christopher School in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.[2]

His father died in 1940 when Paul was 14. Shortly afterwards he changed his surname to Hamlyn, which he picked out of the telephone directory.

## Career[edit]

He began his publishing career in 1949, selling books from a wheelbarrow in Camden, north-west London.[3] In 1965 he set up Music for Pleasure records as a joint venture with EMI. He transformed Paul Hamlyn Group and Octopus Publishing Group, now owned by Hachette Livre, into major UK publishing houses.

His success was developed on the idea of publishing eye-catching, glossy books in colour that appealed to a non-literary retail market. In 1961, for example, he published Marguerite Patten's seminal domestic cookery book Everyday Cook Book in Colour, a great success that established Hamlyn in the cookery retail market.[4] The Everyday Cook Book in Colour had sold in excess of one million copies by 1969.[5] Hamlyn used colour at a time when it was unusual and expensive for book publishers to do so, accessing printers and publishers in Czechoslovakia, such as Artia,[6] for the purpose. It was one of several innovations that included selling his books in retail outlets such as supermarkets and hardware shops, in addition to the usual literary outlets.[4]

He published a number of book series including the Hamlyn All-Colour Paperbacks,[7][8][9] The Portraits of Greatness[10] and The Colour Library of Art.[11]

## Awards[edit]

In 1993 Hamlyn became the University of West London’s first Chancellor, and was also awarded a Royal Society of Arts medal.[12] He was appointed a CBE in the 1993 Birthday Honours[13] and made a British Life Peer on 23 February 1998, taking the title Baron Hamlyn, of Edgeworth in the County of Gloucestershire.[14]

## Philanthropy and legacy[edit]

He established the Paul Hamlyn Foundation in 1987 as a focus for his charitable interests, and it is now one of the UK's largest independent grant-giving organisations. The foundation administers Awards for Artists, the objectives of which include to "encourage artists to continue to practice despite outside pressures, financial or otherwise".[15]

The reference library within the British Museum Reading Room was named the Paul Hamlyn Library in 2000, following funding by his foundation, although the British Museum took the decision to permanently close the Paul Hamlyn Library as of August 2011.[16] The Paul Hamlyn Library that opened at the University of West London in September 2015 is unconnected with the former British Museum Reading Room reference library of the same name.[12][17]

In May 2007 the Royal Opera House announced that the Floral Hall atrium will be renamed Paul Hamlyn Hall in his honour, following a £10m endowment from his foundation to the Paul Hamlyn Education Fund that will be used by the Royal Opera House to support its education and community activities.[18]

## Personal life[edit]

Hamlyn married first Eileen Watson, with whom he had two children, Michael and Jane, and secondly Helen Guest (in 1970), who survives him. Helen Hamlyn is a designer and philanthropist, who heads the Helen Hamlyn Trust.[19]

Paul Hamlyn's brother Michael Hamburger (1924–2007) was a poet and translator.

## Death[edit]

Hamlyn died aged 75 on 31 August 2001.[20][21]

## Arms[edit]

Coat of arms of Paul Hamlyn

Crest
A Bear sejant Azure grasping in the dexter forepaw a Rose slipped and leaved Or
Escutcheon
Lozengy fesswise Gules and Azure the gules fimbriated on the upper side Or and the upper sinister side Argent in the azure a Roundel Or
Supporters
On either side a Blue and Yellow Macaw proper
Motto
There Must Be Another Way
Other elements
Badge: On a Sun in Splendour Or an Octopus Azure [22]

## See also[edit]

* Other European émigrés who became British publishers include André Deutsch, Ernest Hecht and George Weidenfeld.

## Sources[edit]

* Tim Rix, "Hamlyn, Paul Bertrand Wolfgang, Baron Hamlyn (1926–2001)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition, Oxford University Press, January 2005 accessed 8 May 2007

## References[edit]

1. ^ Nicholas Faith, "Obituary: Lord Hamlyn", The Independent, 4 September 2001.
2. ^ John Calder, Roy Hattersley and Jeremy Isaacs, "Lord Hamlyn: Obituary", The Guardian, 3 September 2001, p. 18.
3. ^ "Paul Hamlyn", Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
4. ^ a b "Paul Hamlyn", Publishing Lives, BBC Radio Four, 13 March 2014.
5. ^ Marguerite Patten, Everyday Cook Book in Colour, Hamlyn Books (1969).
6. ^ Philip Jarvis and Sue Thomson, "Paul Hamlyn: The Must Be A Better Way...", in: Richard Abel and Gordon Graham, eds, Immigrant Publishers: The Impact of Expatriate Publishers in Britain and America in the 20th Century, Routledge, 2017 (ebook edition).
7. ^ Hamlyn All-Colour Paperbacks - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
8. ^ HAMLYN ALL-COLOUR Paperbacks, collectingbooksandmagazines.com. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
9. ^ Hamlyn all colour paperbacks, schoolreading70sbooks.weebly.com. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
10. ^ The Portraits of Greatness Series (Hamlyn) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
11. ^ se:Colour Library of Art, worldcat.org. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
12. ^ a b "About the Library", University of West London.
13. ^ "No. 53332". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1993. p. 8.
14. ^ "No. 55055". The London Gazette. 27 February 1998. p. 2325.
15. ^ "About the Awards", Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Archived 20 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
16. ^ "The Paul Hamlyn Library", The British Museum.
17. ^ "Ealing site - Paul Hamlyn Library", University of West London.
18. ^ BBC News: £10m pledged to Royal Opera House"
19. ^ "Lady Helen Hamlyn". Woman's Hour. BBC Radio 4.
20. ^ "Lord Hamlyn". Daily Telegraph. 3 September 2001. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 5 April 2020 - via www.telegraph.co.uk.
21. ^ "Lord Hamlyn". The Independent. 4 September 2001. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
22. ^ Cracroft's Peerage.

## Further reading[edit]

* Philip Jarvis and Sue Thomson, "Paul Hamlyn: The Must Be A Better Way...", in: Richard Abel and Gordon Graham, eds, Immigrant Publishers: The Impact of Expatriate Publishers in Britain and America in the 20th Century, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2009; Routledge, 2017.
* John Rossello, "The Merchandiser", The Guardian, 26 February 1962, p. 7.
* "Hamlyn, Paul Bertrand", in: Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss, eds., Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933, Band 1: Politik, Wirtschaft, Öffentliches Leben, Munich: Saur, 1980, p. 267.
* "Paul Bertrand Hamlyn, Publisher and philanthropist, 1926-2001: How to make money - and give it away", The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 September 2001, p. 42.
* "Profile, Paul Hamlyn: A publisher ready to be damned", The Observer, 30 November 1986, p. 11

## External links[edit]

* Paul Hamlyn Foundation website
* Hamlyn website (archive), 28 April 1999 at the Wayback Machine
* Hamlyn website (archive), 12 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
* Hamlyn website (archive), 9 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine
* Octopus Publishing Group website
* "Lord Hamlyn bequeaths £200m to good causes", The Daily Telegraph, 22 November 2001
* "Lord Hamlyn leaves £200m to charity", BBC News, 24 November 2001

Two groups of WorldCat attributions to Paul Hamlyn both mix works published by Paul Hamlyn and works by a writer or illustrator Paul Hamlyn, evidently as of March 2020:

* "Hamlyn, Paul 1926-2001" at WorldCat
* "Hamlyn, Paul" at WorldCat

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

People|

* UK Parliament

Other|

* SNAC
* IdRef