RA Collection: People and Organisations
Faber and Gwyer Ltd, published its first list of books in November 1925. Founded by Geoffrey Faber (1889-1961) and Lady Gwyer.
Geoffrey Faber had worked for Oxford University Press before serving in the First World War, and had business experience from the family brewing concern, Strong’s Romsey Ales. Faber was a Prize Fellow and Estates Bursar of All Souls College, Oxford (the latter post he continued to hold until 1951) and was also a man of letters. He wrote poetry, some of it published, and the first Faber and Gwyer list included his own ‘gravely absurd’ novel Elnovia.
Alsina Helen Marion Lady Gwyer (1876-1953), whose father, Sir Henry Burdett, had, on his death, left her his publishing company, The Scientific Press. In 1924 Geoffrey Faber had arrived to become the chairman of this company, publisher of, amongst other items, the Nursing Mirror and the Hospital Newsletter.
When Faber and Gwyer launched in 1925, the medical publications remained. Their number was to grow over the years, and the medical list was to remain a profitable part of Faber & Faber’s activity up to the 1980s.
In 1929, Geoffrey Faber bought out Lady Gwyer and renamed the company Faber & Faber.