This list of books published by Rupert Hart-Davis comprises titles reviewed in The Times Literary Supplement (1947 to 1974), plus reprints in the Mariners Library and Reynard Library series.
Background and history
After serving in the Second World War, Hart-Davis returned to his pre-war occupation as a publisher. In 1946 he founded Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd, in partnership with David Garnett and Edward Young and with financial backing from Eric Linklater, Arthur Ransome, H. E. Bates, Geoffrey Keynes, and Celia and Peter Fleming. His own literary tastes dictated which books were accepted and which rejected. Frequently he turned down commercial successes because he thought little of the works' literary merit. He later said, "I usually found that the sales of the books I published were in inverse ratio to my opinion of them. That's why I established some sort of reputation without making any money."Ziegler, p. 138
When the firm started, paper was rationed; they used Garnett's ex-serviceman's ration, but only one such ration per firm could be used so they could not use that of Hart-Davis. They were given the allocation at cost of a Glasgow bookseller and occasional prewar publisher, Alan Jackson. They decided to start initially with reprints of dead authors, as if a new book became a best-seller they would not have paper for a reprint and the author would leave the firm. They made an exception for Stephen Potter's Gamesmanship which was a short book; they collected every ream of paper they could buy, and printed 25,000 copies. Likewise 25,000 copies of Eric Linklater's Sealskin Trousers (five short stories) were printed.Hart-Davis, p. 6f
The firm had best-sellers such as Stephen Potter's Gamesmanship and Heinrich Harrer's Seven Years in Tibet, which sold more than 200,000 copies.The Times, 29 November 1979, p. 15 Also in the early years Hart-Davis secured Ray Bradbury for his firm, recognising the quality of a science fiction author who also wrote poetry.Ziegler, p. 148 Other good sellers were Peter Fleming, Eric Linklater and Gerald Durrell; but best-sellers were too few, and though the output of Rupert-Hart-Davis Ltd was regularly praised for the high quality of its printing and binding, that too was an expense that weighed the company down.Ziegler, p. 144
When G. M. Young's life of Stanley Baldwin was published in 1952, both Churchill and Beaverbrook threatened to sue if certain passages were not removed or altered. With the help of the lawyer Arnold Goodman an agreement was reached to replace the offending sentences, but they had the "hideously expensive" job of removing and replacing seven leaves from 7,580 copies.Hart-Davis, p. 38
By the middle of the 1950s, Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd could no longer sustain an independent existence and in 1956 it was absorbed into the Heinemann group."Mr Bernstein buys book firm" in The Times, 11 September 1963, p. 10 Heinemann sold the imprint to the American firm Harcourt Brace in 1961, who sold it to the Granada Group in 1963, when Hart-Davis retired from publishing, though remaining as non-executive chairman until 1968.Ziegler Publications by the firm after Hart-Davis's retirement are included in the list. Hart-Davis continued to contribute some books to the company's lists after he retired.
The Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd logo was a woodcut of a fox, with a background of oak leaves. The company was based at No. 36 Soho Square, London W1 from 1950, when they moved from 53 Connaught Street. Initially they planned to publish eight books according to their first advertisement in The Bookseller, including Fourteen Stories by Henry James which was dated 1946 but did not actually appear until 14 February 1947. The annual book output according to Hart-Davis was: 1948, 16; 1949, 21; 1950, 25; 1951, 40; 1952, 37; (1953 not given); 1954, 41; 1955, 46; 1956, 45; 1957, 55 then 1962, 60.
Book series published over the years by Rupert Hart-Davis included the Reynard LibraryThe Reynard Library (Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd.) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018.Reynard Library, seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018. of reprints of works from the great English writers, the Mariners Library of reprints of nautical books,The Mariners Library (Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd.) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018.The Rupert Hart-Davis Mariner's Library, mit.edu. Retrieved 28 November 2018. and the Soho Bibliographies started with W. B. Yeats by Allan Wade in 1951. In 2003 Thomas Tanselle characterized the Soho Bibliographies as a "publishing outlet for serious bibliographies encouraging the adoption of higher standards and eventually exerting a considerable influence on the form of descriptive bibliographies."Tanselle, G. Thomas. (2003). “Fifty Years On: Bibliography Then and Now.” The Book Collector 52 (4) Winter: 459–70. The Soho Bibliographies (Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd.) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
While under Granada's ownership, Hart-Davis merged with MacGibbon and Kee in 1972, forming Hart-Davis, MacGibbon, later known as Granada Publishing. William Collins, Sons acquired Granada Publishing in 1983,Records of Granada Publishing Ltd, publishers, St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2024. renaming it Grafton Books after the editorial offices' address."British firms unite to launch mass PB venture". Publishers Weekly. Volume 209, Part 2; p. 19.
{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1" ! Year ! Title !Author !Editor/illustrator etc. |- | 1947 | Fourteen Stories by Henry James | James, Henry | Garnett, David (editor) |- | 1947 | Democracy and the Arts | Brooke, Rupert | Keynes, Geoffrey (preface) |- | 1947 | Are These Hardships Necessary? | Harrod, Roy
| 1947 | Sealskin Trousers, and other Stories | Linklater, Eric | Hassall, Joan (illustrator) |- | 1947 | The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship; or, The Art of Winning Games without Actually Cheating | Potter, Stephen | Wilson, F., Lieutenant-Colonel (illustrator) |- | 1948 | The Modern Everyman | Burn, Michael
| 1948 | Henry James and Robert Louis Stevenson: A Record of Friendship and Criticism | James, Henry, and Robert Louis Stevenson | Smith, Janet Adam (editor) |- | 1948 | The Firm of Charles Ottley, Landon, and Co | Carter, John | Pollard, Graham |- | 1948 | Sailing Alone Around the World and Voyage of the Liberdade | Slocum, Captain Joshua |The Mariners Library No. 1, Introduction by Arthur Ransome |- | 1949 | Two Memoirs: Dr Melchior: A Defeated Enemy, and My Early Beliefs | Keynes, John Maynard | Garnett, David (introduction) |- | 1949 | The Other House | James, Henry | Edel, Leon (introduction) |- | 1949 | Praeterita: Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts Perhaps Worthy of Memory in my Past Life | Ruskin, John | Clark, Kenneth (introduction) |- | 1949 | The Loud Red Patrick | McKenney, Ruth
| 1949 | The Life of William Blake | Wilson, Mona
| 1949 | Blake Studies: Notes on his Life and Works in Seventeen Chapters | Keynes, Geoffrey
| 1949 | Sergeant Shakespeare | Cooper, Duff
| 1949 | The Scenic Art: Notes on Acting and Drama | James, Henry | Wade, Allan (editor), Edel, Leon (foreword)"The Scenic Art", WorldCat. Retrieved 17 July 2021 |- | 1950 | The Complete Plays | James, Henry | Edel, Leon (editor) |- | 1950 | Shakespeare's Sonnets Dated, and other Essays | Hotson, J. Leslie
| 1950 | A Stranger on The Stair | Mortimer, Chapman
| 1950 | Elephant Bill | Lt. Col. J.H. Williams | Slim, William, Field Marshal (foreword) |- | 1950 | Mr Byculla | Linklater, Eric
| 1950 | Sir Philip Sidney | Wilson, Mona
| 1950 | Love Story | McKenney, Ruth
| 1950 | Cricket all his Life: Cricket Writings in Prose and Verse | Lucas, E. V. | Hart-Davis, Rupert (editor) |- | 1950 | Last Essays | Young, G. M.
| 1950 | Magic City, and other Stories | Milton, Roderick
| 1950 | Goldsmith: Selected Works | Goldsmith, Oliver | Garnett, Richard (editor) |- | 1950 | Some Notes on Lifemanship | Potter, Stephen | Wilson, Frank, Lieutenant-Colonel (illustrator) |- | 1950 | Operation Heartbreak | Cooper, Duff
| 1950 | The Dolphin in the Wood | Bates, Ralph
| 1950 | A Generation on Trial | Cooke, Alistair
| 1951 | Call It Treason | Howe, George
| 1951 | Robert Louis Stevenson: Collected Poems | Stevenson, Robert Louis | Smith, Janet Adam (editor) |- | 1951 | Spaces of the Dark | Mosley, Nicholas
| 1951 | Edmund Blunden: A Selection of his Poetry and Prose | Blunden, Edmund | Hopkins, Kenneth (editor) |- | 1951 | Sterne | Sterne, Laurence | Grant, Douglas (editor) |- | 1951 | Father Goose | Mortimer, Chapman
| 1951 | Johnson: Prose and Poetry | Johnson, Samuel | Wilson, Mona (editor) |- | 1951 | Hilaire Belloc: An Anthology of his Prose and Verse | Belloc, Hilaire | Roughead, W. N. (editor) |- | 1951 | The Wink | Bennett, Kem
| 1951 | Here's England | McKenney, Ruth, and Richard Bransten | Lancaster, Osbert (illustrator) |- | 1951 | Mistletoe Malice | Farrell, Kathleen
| 1951 | And So It Goes On: Further Thoughts on Present Mismanagement | Harrod, R. F.
| 1951 | The Sixth Column | Fleming, Peter
| 1951 | Fright in the Forest | Sowerby, Benn | Sassoon, Siegfried (introduction) |- | 1951 | Ti-Coyo and his Shark | Richer, Clement | Hopkins, Gerard (translator) |- | 1951 | The Sky is a Lonely Place | Falstein, Louis
| 1951 | A Place to Hide | King, Clifford
| 1951 | A Guide through the District of the Lakes in the North of England | Wordsworth, William | Merchant, W. M. (introduction) |- | 1951 | The Lightning that Struck Me | Milton, Roderick
| 1951 | The Build-Up Boys | Kirk, Jeremy
| 1951 | The Dog Star | Windham, Donald
| 1951 | The Silver Locusts | Bradbury, Ray
| 1951 | The Crippled Muse | Wheeler, Hugh
| 1951 | The Swan | Steen, Marguerite
| 1951 | Childhood at Oriol | Burn, Michael
| 1951 | The Magic of my Youth | Calder-Marshall, Arthur
| 1951 | End of the Line | Baron, Stanley Wade
| 1951 | Letters from America | Cooke, Alistair
| 1951 | The "Falcon" in the Baltic | Knight, E. F. | The Mariners Library No 15, Introduction by Arthur Ransome |- | 1952 | A Bibliography of the Writings of W. B. Yeats | Wade, Allan
| 1952 | The Dead Won't Know | Séchan, Olivier | Sainsbury, Geoffrey (translator) |- | 1952 | Dryden: Poetry, Prose, and Plays | Dryden, John | Grant, Douglas (editor) |- | 1952 | The Next Million Years | Darwin, Charles Galton, Sir
| 1952 | Into Hades | Young, Andrew
| 1952 | Music at Belmont | Sheppard, J. T.
| 1952 | My Friend Vassia | Rounault, Jean | Traill, Vera (translator), Chapman, Guy (introduction) |- | 1952 | Two Shadows Pass | King, Clifford
| 1952 | Harpoon at a Venture | Maxwell, Gavin
| 1952 | Gustave Courbet | Mack, Gerstle
| 1952 | The Life and Voyages of Captain Joshua Slocum | Slocum, Victor
| 1952 | All my Enemies | Baron, Stanley Wade
| 1952 | The Illustrated Man | Bradbury, Ray
| 1952 | Shakespeare's Motley | Hotson, J. Leslie
| 1952 | A. E. Housman: An Annotated Hand-List | Carter, John, and John Sparrow
| 1952 | ABC for Book-Collectors | Carter, John
| 1952 | A Bibliography of the Works of Max Beerbohm | Gallatin, A. E., and Oliver, L. M
| 1952 | One-Upmanship | Potter, Stephen
| 1952 | Voyage in a Barquentine | Roach, Peter | Seligman, Adrian (introduction) |- | 1952 | The Midnight Diary | Burn, Michael
| 1952 | One of our Submarines | Young, Edward
| 1952 | A Forgotten Journey | Fleming, Peter
| 1952 | Stanley Baldwin | Young, G. M.
| 1952 | The Cruise of the Alerte | Knight, E. F. | The Mariners Library No 21, Introduction by Arthur Ransome |- | 1953 | The Drunken Boat | Rimbaud, Arthur | Hill, Brian (translator) |- | 1953 | Macaulay: Prose and Poetry | Macaulay, Thomas Babbington | Young, G. M. (editor) |- | 1953 | Working with Roosevelt | Rosenman, Samuel | Sherwood, Robert E. (preface) |- | 1953 | People and Americans | Baron, Stanley Wade
| 1953 | Coleridge | House, Humphry
| 1953