Stanley Unwin

Who was Stanley Unwin?

Sir Stanley Unwin was a British publisher, founder of the George Allen and Unwin house in 1914. This published serious and sometimes controversial authors like Bertrand Russell and Mahatma Gandhi.

Unwin lived for some years in Handen Road in Lee in south-east London. His niece was the children's writer Ursula Moray Williams.

In 1936 J. R. R. Tolkien submitted The Hobbit for publication, and Unwin paid his ten-year-old son Rayner Unwin a few pence to write a report on the manuscript. Rayner's favourable response prompted Unwin to publish the book. Once the book became a success Unwin asked Tolkien for a sequel, which eventually became The Lord of the Rings.