Harvill Secker

Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press.

History

Secker & Warburg

Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, by Fredric Warburg and Roger Senhouse. The firm became renowned for its political stance, being both anti-fascist and anti-communist, a position that put them at loggerheads with the ethos of many intellectuals of the time.

When George Orwell parted company with Communist Party sympathizer Victor Gollancz over his editing of The Road to Wigan Pier, he took his next book Homage to Catalonia to Secker & Warburg. They also published, after 18 months of rejections and setbacks, Animal Farm. Orwell and Warburg later became intimate friends.

Secker & Warburg published other books by key figures of the anti-Stalinist left, such as C. L. R. James,Rudolf Rocker and Boris Souvarine, as well as works by Lewis Mumford.

In February 1941 they launched a series of "long pamphlets" or "short books" called Searchlight Books, edited by George Orwell and T. R. Fyvel. The series was originally planned to include 17 books, but was discontinued after the publication of ten when bombing destroyed paper stocks.