Reg Davis-Poynter

<preform>Publisher with MacGibbon & Kee and Granada who then set up his own imprint</preform>

Influential though Reg Davis-Poynter was within post-war book publishing, his disdain for self-promotion ensured that he remained little known to outsiders. Besides giving many future luminaries of that world an opportunity to learn their trade, he edited and published some of the most acclaimed books of the late 20th century.

Reginald Gerard Davis-Poynter, publisher: born London 6 February 1924; general manager, MacGibbon & Kee 1957-70; managing director, Davis-Poynter Ltd 1970-83; married 1943 Maureen Campbell (one son deceased); died Chichester, West Sussex 4 June 2004.

Influential though Reg Davis-Poynter was within post-war book publishing, his disdain for self-promotion ensured that he remained little known to outsiders. Besides giving many future luminaries of that world an opportunity to learn their trade, he edited and published some of the most acclaimed books of the late 20th century.

The first child of a devoutly Roman Catholic civil servant and his wife, Davis-Poynter was born in Fulham, in London, where he spent the early years of his life. Very different from the current affluent, chi-chi enclave, Fulham in the 1920s was a respectable yet vibrant district, offering boisterous entertainment in an array of music halls, memories of which Davis-Poynter would cherish for the rest of his life.

Initially, he was educated at a local Catholic school. But his father subsequently transplanted the family to Scotland. On arrival in Edinburgh, Davis-Poynter continued his Catholic schooling at the city's Holy Cross Academy, where his contemporaries included the now celebrated sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi.

Davis-Poynter was 15 when the Second World War began. Unlike the majority of his classmates who were destined for conscription into the armed forces, he ended up being declared unfit for military service, owing to the severe asthma that had afflicted him since childhood. Once he was old enough, he nevertheless left home and moved down to London, where he found a job at the Highgate branch of St Pancras Public Library. Away from the influence of his parents, he became an ardent socialist, his political beliefs prompting him to renounce Catholicism.

Alongside his normal duties at the library, he organised play-readings there. Through these, he met Maureen Campbell, whom he married in 1943. By then, he had landed his first job in publishing. His new employer was H.K. Lewis Ltd, a firm specialising in medical textbooks. Like many other people who had been excluded from military service by age or ill-health, he worked at night as a fire-watcher. Stationed on the roof of H.K. Lewis's offices, his responsibility was to raise the alarm if any fires were started by the incendiary bombs dropped by German aircraft.

After the war, Davis-Poynter used his experience on the bottom rung of the book trade to obtain a more responsible job with Max Reinhardt Ltd, a small publishing house set up by a refugee from Nazi-dominated Europe. During his spare-time, Davis-Poynter pursued his political interests. These brought him into contact with Aneurin Bevan, Michael Foot, Jennie Lee, and other prominent left-wingers associated with Tribune magazine. Through them, he met Howard Samuel, a property magnate who had just bought the publishing firm of MacGibbon & Kee, together with Staples Press and Arco, its two subsidiary imprints. In 1957, Samuel recruited Davis-Poynter as the firm's general manager. Only a few years afterwards, however, his latest employer died prematurely. Yet Davis-Poynter had already made such a favourable impression that he was bequeathed a legacy by Samuel.

When Samuel's brother decided to sell MacGibbon & Kee, Davis-Poynter was entrusted with the task of finding a suitable buyer. In consultation with his colleagues, he chose the Granada Television Group, owned by Sidney Bernstein, another Jewish entrepreneur keen to extend the scope of his business. Bernstein retained Davis-Poynter as general manager. Spurred on by MacGibbon & Kee's sustained success, its new owner asked Davis-Poynter to look for suitable take-over targets. Rupert Hart-Davis's eponymous firm was soon absorbed into the Granada empire.

Despite his rise through the publishing hierarchy, Davis-Poynter maintained close editorial involvement with many of the writers published by MacGibbon & Kee. Even the notoriously abrasive novelist Colin MacInnes, author of Absolute Beginners (1959), respected his literary judgement. In the early days of their working relationship, the two of them would regularly adjourn from the company's Great Portland Street offices to the nearby Cock Tavern, otherwise known as "the Boardroom".

Other famous writers published by MacGibbon & Kee include Flann O'Brien, Hugh MacDiarmid, Patrick Kavanagh, Fay Weldon, and Nell Dunn whose Up the Junction (1963) scored a commercial hit. As well as being a sympathetic editor and an astute literary talent scout, Davis-Poynter proved himself to be a shrewd judge of potential publishing talent. Beneficiaries of his judgement range from Carmen Callil (co-founder of the Virago imprint) to Sonny Mehta (editorial head of Alfred A. Knopf, publishers of Bill Clinton's memoirs).

Under Davis-Poynter's management, Granada's publishing wing carried on expanding. Thanks to his low-key but effective negotiating skills, during the 1960s the firm acquired Panther and Mayflower, two paperback publishing companies. Davis-Poynter was also instrumental in the creation of Paladin, an innovative new paperback imprint, launched in 1969. Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch was among the notable titles that appeared in Paladin's elegant and distinctive format.

While he was working for Granada Publishing, Davis-Poynter had been serving on the Arts Council's Literature Panel, which helped to identify worthy recipients of grants. One of his fellow panel-members was Lord Goodman. Aware that Davis-Poynter had become disillusioned with life at Granada, Goodman encouraged him to set up his own company. In 1970 he left Granada and established Davis- Poynter Ltd, which went on to publish, in 1973, the second volume of Michael Foot's much-admired biography of Aneurin Bevan. Using his influence with its author, Davis-Poynter assisted the successful campaign for the creation of the Public Lending Right system. This enables writers to receive royalties when their books are borrowed from public libraries.

Davis-Poynter sold his business in 1983, but he remained in the book trade. He worked as a consultant, ran a small literary agency, and managed the Colin MacInnes literary estate. Following his eventual retirement to Chichester, where he and his wife had long maintained a second home, he lent his considerable gifts to a series of battles against what he regarded as insensitive building developments.

Paul Willetts