Thomas Werner Laurie

Thomas Werner Laurie (1866–1944) was a London publisher of books that were avant-garde in some cases, racy in others.

Early life

Laurie was born in Edinburgh. His father was a Scot and his mother a German.

Career

He founded his T. Werner Laurie Ltd. publishing house in 1904[1] and was known for publishing the works of Yeats, Wilde, and Moore as well as other authors of lesser renown.

He published The Jungle by Upton Sinclair when that work had been rejected for publication in England by other publishers, and Sinclair stayed with Laurie for many years in gratitude, publishing World's End and other novels in Sinclair's Lanny Budd series.

Other books issued in the firm's eclectic publishing programme included The Encyclopaedia of Sex and The History of Torture through the Ages.[1]

In 1946, after Laurie's death, his publishing firm was purchased by the financier Clarence Hatry and it continued to operate in premises above Hatchards booksellers at 187 Piccadilly, London,[1] with George Greenfield as the manager.[2][3]

Book series published by T. Werner Laurie Ltd.
  • The Cathedral Series[4] (author of each volume: T. Francis Bumpus)
  • Classical Library
  • Eclectic Library (also known as: T. Werner Laurie's Eclectic Library: Books for the Household)[5]
  • The Farmer's Library[6]
  • The Garden Booklets[7]
  • The House Decoration Series[8]
  • Laurie's Half-Crown Net Novels
  • Laurie's Shilling (Net) Books
  • Laurie's Shilling Reprints
  • Laurie's Two-Shillings Net Novels
  • The Leather Booklets
  • The Library of Sports
  • Live Books Resurrected[9]
  • The Music Lover's Library[10]
  • Old English Towns
  • Sixpenny Books
  • The Old Time Booklets[11]
  • Sex Education Library (also known as: The Library of Sex Education)[12]
  • Uniform Library Edition of the Works of Guy de Maupassant
  • Uniform Library Edition of the Works of Pierre Loti

Personal life

Thomas Werner Laurie married twice. His second wife was (Elizabeth Mary) Beatrice (born 1895).[1] Their daughter, Joan Werner Laurie (1920–1964), edited She, a periodical for women.

References
  1. Laurie (married name Seyler), Joan Ann Werner (1920–1964), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online version). Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  2. George Greenfield, A Smattering of Monsters: A Kind of Memoir, Camden House, 1995.
  3. Chris Swinson, Share Trading, Fraud and the Crash of 1929: A Biography of Clarence Hatry, Routledge, 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  4. The Cathedrals of England and Wales / by T. Francis Bumpus Bumpus, T. Francis (Thomas Francis), nla.gov.au. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  5. Publisher's advertisement in final pages of: Guy Cadogan Rothery, Chimneypieces and Ingle Nooks, Their Design and Ornamentation, London, T. Werner Laurie, ca. 1912 (The House Decoration Series). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  6. William Macdonald, The Conquest of the Desert, London: T. Werner Laurie Ltd., c. 1913. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  7. Publisher's advertisement in closing pages of: Adele and Thomas Seltzer, trs., Atlantis: A Novel by Gerhardt Hauptmann, London: T. Werner Laurie, 1920. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  8. Publisher's advertisement in first pages of: Guy Cadogan Rothery, Chimneypieces and Ingle Nooks, Their Design and Ornamentation, London, T. Werner Laurie, ca. 1912 (The House Decoration Series). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  9. Live Books Resurrected, seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  10. List in first pages of Gladys Davidson, Stories from the Operas, with Short Biographies of the Composers: Third Series, London: T. Werner Laurie, c. 1910. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  11. Closing pages of: Theodore Goodridge Roberts, The Toll of the Tides, Lond: T. Werner Laurie, 1914. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  12. Opening and closing pages of: Walter M. Gallichan, Sexual Apathy and Coldness in Women, London: T. Werner Laurie Limited, 1927. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  • W. B. Yeats and "A Vision": Prospectus at www.yeatsvision.com
  • Cover Art from Selected Books by M.P. Shiel at www.alangullette.com
  • George Greenfield (1995). A Smattering of Monsters. Camden House. ISBN 1-57113-071-3.
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