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

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,Michel W. Pharand, ''Bernard Shaw and His Publishers''. University of Toronto Press, 2009. pp. 10, 14–17 and 223.

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, and

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. Other major authors published were

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and George Moore. He was a member of the Ethical Society and published its literature. In 1902 he left Swan Sonnenschein to work as senior managing director at the publishing house

. 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 d ...

'' 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 m ...

(now the Czech Republic) and his first wife, Sarah Robinson Stallybrass. One of his brothers was the English classical scholar Edward Adolf Sonnenschein. 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

External links

* *
W. S. W. Anson
at LC Authorities, with 6 records
Archives of Swan Sonnenschein & Co
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnenschein, William Swan 1855 births 1931 deaths British book publishers (people) British editors Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom Bibliographers