Books Features

Former ambassador gives new life to old books

By Anna Tomforde Dec 12, 2005, 1:13 GMT

London - A former British ambassador has caused a ripple in the publishing world by setting up an independent imprint specialising in forgotten but compelling titles.

While British publishing has in recent years been increasingly dominated by multinational conglomerates, Adrian Thorpe, recently retired from the diplomatic service, sees an opening for a small publisher specialising in works by often well known authors that have fallen from view and are out of copyright. The result is the launch of Traviata Books and a list of finely produced paperback books by mostly 19th century authors that has reignited the interest of bibliophiles and libraries. Thorpe settled on the name Traviata defined by the Cambridge Italian Dictionary as 'one who has gone astray' to encapsulate his object of rediscovering lost books of quality. Among the newly republished books heading his list is 'Quits!' by Jemima Montgomery, Baroness Tautphoeus, an Irishwoman who married a Bavarian baron, settled in Bavaria and enjoyed some acclaim in the 19th century as a novelist. Thorpe, who discovered her Bavarian grave as a student and returned to it during his time as a diplomat in Germany, describes the book as 'a sparkling novel of a feisty heroine and her travels through Southern Germany and Austria in 1850.' Other titles among his first offering are 'Armadale' by Wilkie Collins, best remembered for his thriller 'The Woman in White' and his pioneering detective story 'The Moonstone', Charles Reade's historical novel 'The Cloister and the Hearth', Mark Rutherford's 'The Revolution in Tanner's Lane' and 'Miriam's Schooling', and Frederick Rolfe's extraordinary fantasy 'Hadrian the Seventh', which for long enjoyed something of a cult status. Thorpe, whose final posting was British Ambassador in Mexico, having served previously as the ambassador to the Philippines, has set up his venture near the historic abbey town of Sherborne, in the west of England, away from the pressures of London publishing. 'We are aimed at intelligent readers looking for something different. People who read a lot and perhaps have recollections of forgotten works,' Thorpe says. Unlike larger publishers, he is also inviting book enthusiasts to make suggestions for new additions to the series, a novel approach with a direct appeal to readers who so far have been impressed by the high quality of Traviata 's printing, artistic covers and stitched bindings - unusual nowadays for paperbacks. (www.traviatabooks.co.uk) © dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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