Peter Owen Ltd Archive

MS 3627

1951-1989

Peter Owen (1927–2016) started his company, aged twenty-four, six years after the Second World War. Set up in 1951 with an initial investment of £850 and a bank overdraft guaranteed by Peter Owen's mother. Owen's aim was to publish "only books of quality" including first novels, established authors and translations. The firm published several bestsellers and longsellers such as Hesse's Siddharta. The venture also benefitted from Owen's friendships with writers such as Peter and Jane Bowles. He ran the business from home, with a typewriter as his only equipment. Soon, however, the company started to flourish, enabling him to employ some staff – his first editor was Muriel Spark. He was able to bring some of the very best international literature to what was a very insular British market. In the decades since then, although the industry has changed beyond recognition, Peter Owen Publishers continues the tradition of producing new and interesting writing. The company has published seven Nobel Prize winners, including Hermann Hesse, Octavio Paz and Isaac Bashevis Singer, and boasts a backlist that includes some of the most talented and important writers from all over the world.

The collection contains manuscripts, typescripts, author's corrected proofs and other publishing material relating to books published by Peter Owen Ltd. There is also correspondence between Peter Owen and various authors including Paul Bowles, Shusaku Endo, D.J. Enright, Ronald Hayman, Anais Nin, Kathleen Raine, Jeremy Sandford, Peter Vansittart and others.

41 boxes

Peter Owen Publishers, Peter Owen, 1927-2016