Alan Clodd

Alan Clodd (22 May 1918 - 24 December 2002) was an Irish publisher, book collector, and dealer.

Early life

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Alan Clodd went to Bishop's Stortford College and later worked with the insurance firm Scottish Widows. During World War II he was a conscientious objector and worked with the Friends Ambulance Unit in Egypt and with UNRRA in Italy. He returned to London and first worked for an Oxford Street bookshop. He then worked for five years at the London Library. This was followed by a series of clerical jobs.

Collecting

During the 1950s he began to collect books. Alan Clodd's collection was strong in the Victorian and Edwardian authors who were contemporaries of his grandfather. He was also a collector of First World War poets: Edward Thomas, Ivor Gurney, Siegfried Sassoon, and David Jones (poet), and other authors like Christopher Isherwood, W. H. Auden, Edward Upward, and Evelyn Waugh. He had almost every publication by T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, including James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and Seamus Heaney. Many of the books were inscribed.

Publishing

In the 1950s and early 1960s he issued poem pamphlets by Christopher Logue, Ronald Firbank, and Kathleen Raine.

In 1967 he founded the Enitharmon Press. The name came from a character by William Blake. The pressmark came from a William Blake woodcut. The Enitharmon Press [ [http://www.enitharmon.co.uk/ Enitharmon press website.] (accessed 22 February 2008)] revived interest in Frances Bellerby, Hugo Manning, [ [http://www.jameshyman.co.uk/pages/galleryartists/single/2563/4150.html Portrait of Hugo Manning, on the James Hyman Gallery website] Hugo Manning was poetry editor of the "New Statesman" (accessed 22 February 2008).] [ [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00083/hrc-00083.html The papers of Hugo Manning (1913-1977) are in Austin, Texas at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (accessed 22 February 2008).] ] and John Heath-Stubbs. Alongside the familiar names of Samuel Beckett, Jorge Luis Borges, Federico García Lorca, Harold Pinter, Kathleen Raine, and Vernon Watkins, the Press also introduced Frances Horovitz, Jeremy Hooker, Jeremy Reed, Richard Burns, David Gascoyne and Peter Russell.

The Press had published nearly 150 titles, before being passed on to Stephen Stuart-Smith.

Retirement

Alan Clodd retired from publishing in 1987, and died in 2002 in London.

References