Robin Hyman obituary | Books
This content was originally published by Peter Hyman on 11 April 2017 | 11:05 am.
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My father, Robin Hyman, who has died aged 85, was one of the leading independent book publishers of the 20th century. But he was so much more than that: family man, Jew, author, theatregoer, book-collector, sports fan, lover of all things Pepys and political junkie. He packed things in, believing that every second of life should be filled, every person he met would have an interesting tale to tell, and every cultural experience would make his life richer.
Son of an antiquarian bookseller, Robin spent a life surrounded by books. He had a particular way of handling a new book,looking at the cover, turning it over to read the blurb, examining the back and the spine before looking at the inside page for the , paper quality and font. He boasted proudly of being able to spot at least 10 errors in any published book – and when put to the challenge, always did.
He was born in London, to Helen (nee Mautner) and Leonard Hyman, educated at Christ’s College, Finchley, and studied English at Birmingham University. After national service in the RAF, in 1955 he joined the publishing firm Evans Brothers. In the early 60s he effectively did two jobs, getting up at five in the morning to compile a Dictionary of Famous Quotations (published in 1962) before beginning his day at Evans Brothers, where he worked his way up to be managing director. Robin went on to co-author many children’s books with his wife, Inge (nee Neufeld), a clinical psychologist, whom he married in 1966.
One of his proudest achievements, at Bell and Hyman, the company he led from 1977 until 1986, was to publish the complete Pepys diaries, with a separate volume just for the index which won the Wheatley medal. In 1986, after a merger with Allen & Unwin, the company became Unwin Hyman and there he published the work of JRR Tolkien.
He was a longtime member of the council of the Publishers’ Association and its president in 1989-91, at the time of the controversy over Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses and when the Net Book Agreement, which prevented books being discounted, was being threatened (it is now a thing of the past).
Robin was a mentor, adviser and supporter to many. He touched people deeply because he was a listener, with genuine empathy and understanding, a mischievous sense of humour and great humility about his achievements.
He is survived by Inge, their three children, James, Philippa and me, and eight grandchildren.
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