William Swan Sonnenschein (5 May 1855 – 31 January 1931), known from 1917 as William Swan Stallybrass, was a British publisher, editor and bibliographer.
[ His publishing firm, Swan Sonnenschein, published scholarly works in the fields of philosophy and the social sciences.][ as well as general literature and periodicals. In 1902 he became the senior managing director of the British publishing firm ]George Routledge & Sons
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, an ...
.[
]
Career
In his youth Sonnenschein was apprenticed to the London publishers and book importers Williams and Norgate
Williams and Norgate were publishers and book importers in London and Edinburgh. They specialized in both British and foreign scholarly and scientific literature.
Williams & Norgate was founded in the winter of 1842 by Edmund Sydney Williams (18 ...
. In 1878 he founded the publishing firm, W. Swan Sonnenschein & Allen,[ with the first of several partners, J. Archibald Allen. In 1882 the firm's name was restyled to W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. In 1895 the firm became a limited liability company.
Under him the firm published several renowned book series, including the Library of Philosophy (1890–1911) and the Social Science Series. The firm also acquired a reputation for publishing radical works, including those of ]George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
,[Michel W. Pharand, ''Bernard Shaw and His Publishers''. University of Toronto Press, 2009. pp. 10, 14–17 and 223.] Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
, and Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rightsWarren Allen Smith: ''Who's Who in Hell, A Handbook and International Directory for Human ...
. Other major authors published were J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...
, Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
, George Meredith
George Meredith (12 February 1828 – 18 May 1909) was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but he gradually established a reputation as a novelist. ''The Ord ...
and George Moore.
He was a member of the Ethical Society
The Ethical movement, also referred to as the Ethical Culture movement, Ethical Humanism or simply Ethical Culture, is an ethical, educational, and religion, religious movement that is usually traced back to Felix Adler (professor), Felix Adler ...
and published its literature.
In 1902 he left Swan Sonnenschein to work as senior managing director at the publishing house George Routledge & Sons
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, an ...
.[ Later he took up a position at Kegan Paul.
In 1911 the firm Swan Sonnenschein became amalgamated with George Allen & Co.
Sonnenschein wrote ''The Best Books'', a multivolume general bibliography that became a standard reference book in larger libraries for many years. Its third edition (1910) was described by '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as a "valuable work".[
]
Family
He was one of six children of Adolphus (Adolf) Sonnenschein, a teacher and writer originally from Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
(now the Czech Republic) and his first wife, Sarah Robinson Stallybrass.[ One of his brothers was the English classical scholar ]Edward Adolf Sonnenschein
Edward Adolf Sonnenschein (20 November 1851 – 2 September 1929, Bath) was an English classical scholar and writer on Latin grammar and verse.
Career
Sonnenschein was educated at University College School and then in 1868 at University Colle ...
.
He married Helena Teulon in 1882. William and Helena had two children: the jurist and university administrator William Teulon Swan Sonnenschein and Frances Helena Swan Sonnenschein.
In 1917, responding to increasing anti-German hostility in Britain during World War I, he dropped his Germanic-sounding surname "Sonnenschein" and adopted his mother's maiden name, being thereafter known as "William Swan Stallybrass". Similarly, his wife and children changed their names to Helena Stallybrass, William Teulon Swan Stallybrass and Frances Helena Swan Stallybrass respectively.[Michael P. Stallybrass]
"The Stallybrass Family and Their Medieval Ancestors"
Self-published (people.math.gatech.edu/~stallybr). 6 February 2012.
Books written
* ''The best books : a reader's guide to the choice of the best available books (about 25,000) in every department of science, art, and literature, with the dates of the first and last editions, and the prize, size and publisher's name of each book. A contribution towards classified bibliography.'' London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey & Co., 1887.
* ''The best books : a reader's guide to the choice of the best available books (about 100,000) in every department of science, art, and literature, with the dates of the first and last editions, and the prize, size and publisher's name (both English and American) of each book. A contribution towards systematic bibliography.'' 3rd ed. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1910–35.[
]
Books edited
* Esquemeling, John. ''The Buccaneers of America. A true account of the most remarkable assaults committed of late years upon the Coast of the West Indies by the Buccaneers of Jamaica and Tortuga, both English and French.'' London: George Routledge, n.d. 923 A translation of the 1684–85 revision and edited by W. S. Stalleybrass. With an introduction by Andrew Lang. XX, 480, 8pp. With frontispiece, 10 full-page plates, and text figures.
* ''The Epic of the Beast, Consisting of English Translations of The History of Reynard the Fox and Physiologus.'' London: George Routledge & Sons Ltd., 1924. Text of "Reynard" as translated and printed by William Caxton in 1481 and modernised here by William Swan Stallybrass. Introduction by William Rose. Glossarial index and notes to Caxton's words and phrases. "Physiologus" translated, with an introduction, by James Carlill. Illustrated throughout with Kaulbach plates. xxxviii + 277 pp.
References
Further reading
* Frank Arthur Mumby and Frances Helena Swan Stallybrass, ''From Swan Sonnenschein to George Allen & Unwin Ltd.'' London: Allen & Unwin, 1955. With an introduction by Dr. John Murray.
External links
*
*
W. S. W. Anson
at LC Authorities, with 6 records
Archives of Swan Sonnenschein & Co
at Archives Hub
The Archives Hub is a Jisc service, and is freely available to all. It provides a cross-search of descriptions of archives held across the United Kingdom, in over 320 institutions, including universities, colleges, specialist repositories, chari ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnenschein, William Swan
1855 births
1931 deaths
British book publishers (people)
British editors
Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom
Bibliographers