Blond, Anthony 1928-2008

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born March 20, 1928, in Sale, Cheshire, England; died February 27, 2008. Literary agent, publisher, and author. Blond entered the British publishing world as a literary agent in the early 1950s. He had no experience, but his engaging personality, family connections, and willingness to take risks led to a long career in the business. He established the publishing house of Anthony Blond a few years later, literally in his own house. In 1971 he formalized the partnership of Blond and Briggs. The publishing venture launched the careers of several successful British authors, though the company itself was always financially under stress. Even successes like securing the English-language fiction of French literary giant Jean Genet and the risky publication of works by American novelists Harold Robbins and Gore Vidal, considered salacious enough at the time to achieve best-seller status, never solidified the bottom line. Blond persisted in his low-key efforts to produce worthwhile fiction and other titles with ever-smaller business ventures and partnerships until 1987, when he finally retired. He maintained miscellaneous other connections over the years: running unsuccessfully for political office, traveling widely and owning properties in several countries, serving as a company director for GMIR-Radio in Piccadilly, and founding the private-eye magazine Pressdram. Blond also wrote books. His novels Family Business (1978) and The Lord My Light (1982) earned respectable reviews; his nonfiction included The Publishing Game (1971) and The Book Book (1985). The title that attracted the most attention was probably Blond's Roman Emperors (1995), a combination of lay history and (according to some reports) scandal-sheet journalism that shed a garish light on Roman daily life through the exploits of the first Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to Nero.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Blond, Anthony, Jew Made in England, Timewell Press (London, England), 2004.

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), March 1, 2008, p. 87.