Born in London, England, he was the son of a wholesale jeweler; after taking a degree in classics at New College, Oxford, he became a schoolteacher. Gollancz served in the British Army in World War I. In 1917 he became involved in the Reconstruction Committee, an organization that was making plans for postwar Britain. There he met Ernest Benn, who hired him to work in the publishing business. Starting with magazines, Gollancz then brought out a series of art books, after which he started signing novelists.
Gollancz formed his own publishing company in 1927; the writers he published included George Orwell and Ford Madox Ford. He was also one of the founders of the Left Book Club.
Gollancz had a knack for marketing, sometimes taking out full-page newspaper ads for the books he published, a novelty at the time. He also used eye-catching typography and book designs.
In addition to his highly successful publishing business, Gollancz was a prolific writer on a variety of subjects.
He was knighted in 1955.
Selected bibliography