David Whitaker (publisher)
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David Haddon Whitaker (died 4 August 2021) was a British book publisher. A direct descendant of
Joseph Whitaker Joseph Whitaker may refer to: *Joseph Whitaker (industrialist) (1789–1870), American iron master and landowner *Joseph Whitaker (naturalist) (1850–1932), English naturalist *Joseph Whitaker (ornithologist) (1850–1936), Sicilian-English ornith ...
, he joined the family firm, J. Whitaker & Sons, in 1956. Whitaker became involved with the development of Standard Book Numbers, the precursor to the
ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...
, in the 1960s. Whitaker's firm was well placed to drive the standard as it published records of all books published in the United Kingdom. The SBN was expanded internationally from 1968 and Whitaker, who is sometimes known as "the father of the ISBN", played a key role in this. He chaired the first
International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Ar ...
(ISO) working group on the ISBN and helped draft ISO standard 2108. Whitaker served as editor of trade magazine '' The Bookseller'' from 1977 to 1979. In this role he favoured stories on women in the industry, to encourage them in what was a male-dominated workplace. Whitaker afterwards became managing director, and then chairman, of J. Whitaker & Sons. He improved the firm's coverage of book sale figures to meet a market need and developed the TeleOrdering system that was used widely for book ordering in pre-Internet times. Whitaker was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in the
1991 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 1991 for the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, New Zealand, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, were announced on 14 June 19 ...
. He supported campaigns against the introduction of value-added tax on books and in support of the
Public Lending Right A Public Lending Right (PLR) is a program intended to either compensate authors for the potential loss of sales from their works being available in public libraries or as a governmental support of the arts, through support of works available in pu ...
and also founded trade organisations.


Early career

David Haddon Whitaker joined J. Whitaker & Sons, a publisher known for producing '' The Bookseller'' and '' Whitaker's Almanack'' and for their lists of upcoming books to be published in the United Kingdom. The firm was the main supplier of business information and bibliographical data to the British book industry. When Whitaker joined the company his father, Haddon Whitaker, was then in charge of it. David Whitaker was a direct descendant of the firm's founder,
Joseph Whitaker Joseph Whitaker may refer to: *Joseph Whitaker (industrialist) (1789–1870), American iron master and landowner *Joseph Whitaker (naturalist) (1850–1932), English naturalist *Joseph Whitaker (ornithologist) (1850–1936), Sicilian-English ornith ...
, and the fourth generation of Whitakers to be involved in the company.


Role in popularisation of the ISBN

Whitaker is sometimes called "the father of the
ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...
" (International Standard Book Numbers) for his role in developing and popularising the system of assigning identification numbers to books. Before the introduction of identification numbers it was difficult to track individual editions of books. Whitaker recalled "we were trying to solve problems related to the transmission of a book order. Say, for example, that you were looking for a particular edition of '' Black Beauty''. Previously, you had to go through 125 alpha-numeric characters before you could identify the unique edition that you wanted". The catalyst for the development of Standard Book Numbers (SBNs) was the establishment of a computerised warehouse facility by major bookseller WHSmith. Professor
Gordon Foster Frederic Gordon Foster (24 February 1921 – 20 December 2010) was an Irish computational engineer, statistician, professor, and college dean who is widely known for devising, in 1965, a nine-digit code upon which the International Standard Boo ...
of the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...
was commissioned to devise a book numbering system, which became the SBN. Whitaker proposed that his firm embed the number in their book lists to make the SBN "as much a part of the book as the name of the author and title". The SBN was introduced in 1967, with J. Whitaker & Sons becoming the first SBN agency in the world responsible for issuing the numbers. Whitaker said that his firm was the only one that could have introduced standard book numbering as it published records of all books in the UK and was willing to publish lists of those coming out in the next six months. Whitaker noted there was some resistance to the system, including from
Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...
, a major producer of educational textbooks. This was overcome after Whitaker, the Publishers Association, and the
Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
—Macmillan's biggest customer—wrote to them to urge it be adopted. Whitaker also produced, with colleague James Coates, a 12-page manual on the SBN system that was sent, free of charge, to every British publisher. All British books had received an SBN by the end of 1967. The system became international in 1968 when it was first implemented in the US and spread to other countries. It was decided to register the system with the
International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Ar ...
(ISO) and Whitaker served as chair of the first ISO working group on the ISBN. Whitaker helped to draft the standard for the system (ISO 2108) at meetings in Berlin. He claimed that its adoption, coming in 1972—within a year of work starting—was the shortest for any ISO standard. Whitaker played a key role in persuading other nations to adopt the ISBN and the International ISBN Agency (IIA) regards him as "crucial to ISBN's success and ubiquity across the world's book supply chain". Whitaker served for many years as chair of the IIA's annual meetings, navigating the agency through political disputes at a time of huge expansion of national ISBN agencies. The introduction of the ISBN had a large effect on the industry, enabling the barcoding of books, electronic ordering and more efficient compilation of sales data.


Later life

Whitaker was editor of '' The Bookseller'' from 1977 to 1979. He was noted for adopting a policy of encouraging women in the trade, which was then dominated by white men, through the stories it covered. He also successfully defended a libel claim made by media baron
Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster. Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from N ...
and won his legal costs. Whitaker said his three years as editor at ''The Bookseller'' were "the best and happiest years of my working life. The only day I was sad was the day I was promoted out". Whitaker later became managing director, and then chairman, of J. Whitaker & Sons. At the firm he improved the coverage of book sale figures, in line with a desire by the industry for detail on how many books were sold to the public. Previously firms only knew how many they had sold to booksellers and, with no idea how well they sold in shops, were often shocked to receive quantities of unsold books as returns. Whitaker also developed the TeleOrdering system used widely by booksellers for ordering products in the 1980s and 1990s, prior to the widespread introduction of internet ordering. Whitaker was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in the
1991 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 1991 for the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, New Zealand, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, were announced on 14 June 19 ...
. Whitaker retired from the family firm in 1997, following a disagreement, he was succeeded as chairman by his son, Martin. The firm was sold to the Dutch company Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen in 1999. Outside of the firm Whitaker campaigned against a proposed introduction of value-added tax on books and in support of the
Public Lending Right A Public Lending Right (PLR) is a program intended to either compensate authors for the potential loss of sales from their works being available in public libraries or as a governmental support of the arts, through support of works available in pu ...
. He also helped to create the trade standards body Editeur and the supply chain organisation the Book Industry Communication. Whitaker also assisted
The Book Society ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
and
Books in Print R. R. Bowker LLC (trading as Bowker) is an American limited liability company domiciled under Delaware Limited Liability Company Law and based in Chatham, New Jersey. Among other things, Bowker provides bibliographic information on publishe ...
organisations. Whitaker was married to Maggie van Reenen. He died in his sleep on 4 August 2021. His funeral was held on 17 September 2021 at
St Paul's, Covent Garden St Paul's Church is a Church of England parish church located in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, central London. It was designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission for the 4th Earl of Bedford in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fit ...
, where his parents were married. A wake was held afterwards at the Garrick Club.


References

{{Authority control 2021 deaths British publishers (people) British magazine editors International Standard Book Number Officers of the Order of the British Empire Whitaker family