IN MEMORIAM
Passion for publishing
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Remembering Christopher Hurst who was adept at picking books of special interest. JULIAN REA
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Photo: Courtesy Hurst & Co.
Eclectic choice of books: Christopher Hurst.
FOUR years ago, Christopher was diagnosed with cancer. He was admitted to hospitals and hospices several times in the expectation of imminent death, only to reappear at his desk a few weeks later, brushing aside the concerns of his friends and collea
gues. He had a strong sense of unfinished business. The house of Hurst.
Born into a distinguished medical family and educated at Eton and Oxford, Christopher’s passion was publishing books. In a trade world dominated at the top by the listed corporations and elsewhere by subject and market niche specialists, it was a major achievement to remain afloat as a publisher of general and academic interest for 40 years. Hurst & Co. grew modestly. It never made large profits or, indeed, large losses. Its purpose was not to make money but to provide a quality list of abiding, often specialist, interest.
Specialist interests
In the early days, good manuscripts were more difficult to come by, especially for a relatively inexperienced publisher. Christopher had a keen interest in Africa and had already published some “colonial” materials. He understood the possibilities of accessing materials, which, while certainly publishable, could not, for political or other reasons, find a place on major lists. His frequent forays into Africa and African publishing sometimes led him into trouble and, on one occasion, close to a hugely expensive lawsuit.
Later, he became adept at picking books of special, if esoteric, interest. The Nordic world, Eastern Europe and the Baltics and several underrated and under-published peoples and places found a home at Hurst. But Christopher always refused to specialise. His list, while eclectic, was invariably interesting, produced to meticulous editorial and production standards, and matched by cost-covering American editions. His approach to the technique of publishing is set out in his 2002 book The
Invisible Art.
Publishers working in modern air-conditioned offices with set hours, long annual holidays and pensions have little in common with the lives of small publishers working on incredibly tight budgets. Christopher and his sole senior colleague, Michael Dwyer, performed every publishing function themselves.
For most of its life, Hurst & Co. was based in a tiny suite of offices above the Africa Centre in Covent Garden. Among huge piles of manuscripts, proofs, dummies, photographs and paper samples, enough space was cleared to make work possible, though sometimes it was only feasible to edge into Christopher’s office sideways. Much of this is recounted in his first book, The View from King Street, published by Hurst in 1997.
Critical look
In the 1980s, Christopher felt sufficiently established to begin looking critically at the wider publishing world. What he saw did not entirely please him. In particular, he felt that the Publishers Association had become something of a club for the top executives of big companies. He felt keenly that smaller publishers were under-represented and their interests under-promoted. He tackled this by becoming, not without difficulty, a member of the PA Council, where, no doubt to the irritation and even exasperation of its officers, he persisted in pursuing what he saw to be the interests of his own group. Excitable, and nervous about public exposure (and, though never lost for words, about public speaking), few people appreciated his courage in taking on this role.
Christopher was excellent company, with a broad intelligence and subtle sense of humour. Scholarly and well-informed, his enthusiasm for conversation on almost all subjects was infectious. For many years he was a regular user of the Garrick Club. Quite recently his ambivalence about all that it stands for caused him to resign and then, almost immediately, to seek re-election.
In some aspects, Christopher could be considered a man ahead of his time and as an exemplar of the book publishing trade, we should be grateful to him.
Christopher was married three times and had four children, all of whom survive him. Latterly he enjoyed a special friendship with Anne de Courcy, the writer. Hurst & Co continues under the direction of Michael Dwyer.
(Christopher Hurst wrote the column The View From King Street for The Hindu Literary Review for many years.)
Reprinted with the permission of The Bookseller magazine, the U.K.
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