Sir Basil Henry Blackwell (29 May 18899 April 1984) was an English bookseller.

Biography

Blackwell was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He was the son of

Benjamin Henry Blackwell Benjamin Henry Blackwell (10 January 1849 – 26 October 1924) was an English bookseller and politician who founded the Blackwell UK, Blackwell's chain of bookshops in Oxford. Blackwell was born at 46 High Street, St Clement's, Oxford, the son ...

(18491924), founder of

Blackwell's Blackwell UK, also known as Blackwell's and Blackwell Group, is a British academic book retailer and library supply service owned by Waterstones. It was founded in 1879 by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, after whom the chain is named, on Broad Stree ...

bookshop in

, which went on to become the Blackwell family's

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

and

bookshop Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The foundi ...

empire, located on Broad Street in central Oxford. The publishing arm is now part of

Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...

. He was educated at

Magdalen College School, Oxford Magdalen College School (MCS) is a private day school in the British public school tradition located in Oxford, England, for boys aged seven to eighteen and for girls in the sixth form (i.e. ages sixteen to eighteen). It was founded by Willia ...

and

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

. He was the first person in his family to attend university. In 1913, he began working with his father at Blackwell's. Upon his father's death in 1924, he took over the company and remained working there for decades. He married Marion Christine Soans. Their daughter was Dame Penelope Jessel. He was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in 1956 by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, the only bookseller ever to receive that honour. In 1959, he was elected to an honorary Fellowship at Merton. In 1970, he was given the honorary Freedom of the City of Oxford.Full list of people and organisations that have been awarded Freedom of the City of Oxford since 1900
oxford.gov.uk. Accessed 3 June 2024. In 1979, he was awarded a

Doctorate of Civil Law Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; ) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees. At Oxford, the degree is a higher doctorate usually awarded on the basis of excepti ...

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

at the

Encaenia Encaenia ( ) is an academic or sometimes ecclesiastical ceremony, usually performed at colleges or universities. It generally occurs some time near the annual ceremony for the general conferral of degrees to students. The word is from Latin, mean ...

. Blackwell was a prosecution

witness In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

in the 1966

private prosecution A private prosecution is a criminal proceeding initiated by an individual private citizen or private organisation (such as a prosecution association) instead of by a public prosecutor who represents the state. Private prosecutions are allowed in ...

attempt to bar the book ''

Last Exit to Brooklyn ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' is a 1964 novel by American author Hubert Selby Jr. The novel takes a harsh, uncompromising look at lower class Brooklyn in the 1950s written in spare, stripped-down prose. Critics and fellow writers praised the b ...

'' from UK publication.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell, Basil 1889 births 1984 deaths English publishers (people) Businesspeople from Oxford People educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Knights Bachelor 20th-century English businesspeople Presidents of the Classical Association