Description
John Calder (pictured outside his newly-opened bookshop) started his publishing house in 1949 when manuscripts were plentiful and many books that were in demand were out of print - the immediate post war years paper was scarce and severely rationed. During the 1950s he built up a list of translated classics which included the works of Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoievsky, Goethe and Zola among others. Calder then began to publish American titles. As a result of Senator Joe McCarthy's "witch-hunt" he was able to acquire significant American authors as well as books on issues of civil liberty which main-stream publishers in New York were afraid to keep on their lists. This led to the development of close ties with those smaller American firms who resisted the McCarthyite pressure. John Calder commissioned Alger Hiss to write a personal account of his trial for treason, which many believed to have been a frame-up. Other books about British and European issues followed, including Lord Altrincham's controversial "Is The Monarchy Perfect?" and "Gangrene" - exposing atrocities in both British and French colonies which led directly to the closing of the Hola camps in Kenya. There were books in other African regimes such as Henri Alleg's "The Question" which was banned in France but became as best-seller in Britain - raising public awareness of the issues behind the war in Algeria and helping to bring down the French government and return de Gaulle to power.
By the late 1950s, Calder was publishing a group of new writers who were changing the face of twentieth century literature. One of these was Samuel Beckett; of whom Calder published all his novels, poetry, criticism, and some of his plays. Others became synonymous with the school of the "nouveau roman" or "new novel". These included Alain Robbe-Grillet, Marguerite Duras, Claude Simon (Nobel Prize 1985), Nathalie Sarraute and Robert Pinget. Other European novelists, playwrights and poets included Heinrich Böll (another Nobel Prize winner), Dino Buzzati, Eugène Ionesco, Fernando Arrabal, René de Obaldia, Peter Weiss and Ivo Andric. Calder was soon launching new experimental British writers such as Ann Quin, Alan Burns, Eva Tucker and R.C. Kennedy - who, influenced by their European counterparts, became part of the avant-garde of the early 1960s.
From his experience of authors tours, John Calder saw that readers much enjoyed hearing authors air their ideas in public - often in heated debate. Her persuaded the Edinburgh Festival to stage large literary conferences - the first of their kind - which in 1962 and 1963 were immensely successful. They attracted many of the world's leading writers as well as others whose names were not yet familiar to the public. Following their visit to Scotland, Calder began to publish the previously banned work of two such writers: Henry Miller and William Burroughs. Controversy also surrounded the publication of Alexander Trocchi's "Cain's Book", which was a success in spite of a minor obscenity trial in Sheffield. Hubert Selby's "Last Exit to Brooklyn", although well reviewed, had a more serious case brought against it; first in a private prosecution by a Tory MP; then at the Old Bailey. John Mortimer led a successful appeal and the company was vindicated after lost in both lower courts.
In 1963 the company changed its name to Calder and Boyars to accommodate a new partner, but went back to its original name when the partnership was dissolved in 1975. It has been in many perilous situations - the biggest after the "Last Exit ..." case surrounded the publication of Eddie Milne's "No Shining Armour", which had 36 libel cases brought against it. Milne was a Labour MP who exposed widespread corruption in the safe Labour constituencies of North East England. His book was another in the growing list of important exposés commissioned and published by John Calder. Heavy damages were paid but Calder Publications was saved, largely due to an annual grant given by the Art's Council's Literary Committee on condition that the company became a non-profit distributing charity. The Calder Educational Trust was then formed to take over the company.
The grant was discontinued when the Art's Council became politicised and William Rees-Mogg became its chairman. Many difficulties followed as the changing climate fostered by Margaret Thatcher and the "dumbing-down" policies of a new breed of newspaper proprietor made the publication of innovative literature more difficult to sell and less likely to be reviewed.
Although as much as possible has been kept in print and several new authors have been published, the company has resisted the trend to mergers and take-overs that have characterised the last 15 years. We have become smaller, but still independent and have retained our place in the affection and respect of our readers and intelligent booksellers - from whom our books can also be obtained.
Since 1949, Calder Publications have published many books on all the arts: on musical subjects, especially opera (a particular interest of our founder), as well as on painting, the theatre and critical and philosophical theory. Our authors have achieved 19 Nobel Literature Prizes and three for Peace and we fully expect that number to increase.
NB: A complete account of the life of Calder Publications and its founders will be published in the latter's autobiography: "Pursuit" (available in hardcover, September 2001; priced at £30/$45; ISBN 0714543136). This will be the first autobiography in many years to give not only a record of over half a century of publishing and literary activity but a life that entered politics and all areas of the arts. Certain to be controversial.
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