Rupert Hart-Davis

Who was Rupert Hart-Davis?

Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis was an English publisher, editor and man of letters. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. As a biographer, he is remembered for his Hugh Walpole, as an editor, for his Collected Letters of Oscar Wilde, and, as both editor and part-author, for the Lyttelton/Hart-Davis Letters.

Working at a publishing firm before World War II, Hart-Davis began to forge literary relationships that would be important later in his career. Founding his publishing company in 1946, Hart-Davis was praised for the quality of the firm's publications and production; but he refused to cater to public tastes, and the firm eventually lost money. After relinquishing control of the firm, Hart-Davis concentrated on writing and editing, producing collections of letters and other works which brought him the sobriquet "the king of editors."