A Smattering of Monsters

Uncomfortable in his thick demob suit, George Greenfield was contemplating what to do with his six months' paid leave when he bumped into a friend outside Hatchards, the booksellers in Piccadilly. The year was 1946, and the friend's father, who owned the Hatchards Group, had recently acquired a small publishing house called T. Werner Laurie and needed someone to run it. Was George interested? Indeed he was. Suddenly life on civvy street was beginning to take shape, and within a few short months George found himself puzzling over book trade jargon and trying to get used to the idea of being the publisher of Upton Sinclair, Colette and Guy de Maupassant. Flourishing under the mercurial wing of Hatchards' chief, Clarence Hatry, George quickly found his feet in the post-war publishing scene and inevitably came into contact with the acknowledged sharks of the book pond - Literary Agents. Now, exactly fifty years after the publication of his first book, George Greenfield looks back over a memorable half-century in the book world. With humour and insight he comments on the businesses of publishing and agenting, and delightfully recalls many of the anecdotes and incidents accumulated during a distinguished career.