Queen Anne Press was created in 1951 by Lord Kemsley, proprietor of the Sunday Times, to publish (inter alia) the works of notable contemporary authors. The following year, as a wedding present to his then Foreign Editor, he appointed Ian Fleming its Managing Director.
The venture was inconsistently successful despite - or perhaps because of - Fleming’s best efforts. While relishing the post he approached it in typically idiosyncratic style. As a fellow-director complained, “I cannot help thinking that the rather light-hearted atmosphere of our monthly meetings has been misconstrued in some quarters and several of our affairs are not being tackled with the businesslike promptitude and energy that is needed.”
Fleming was no dilettante - he once tried to secure an unpublished book by Marcel Proust - but his breezy attitude occasionally irritated authors. Evelyn Waugh, for example, took exception to the way his book, The Holy Places, had been produced.He called it “a great balls-up,” and denounced Queen Anne Press as “Ian Fleming’s idiot printing firm.”
Fleming remained at the helm until his death in 1964. Queen Anne Press was subsequently absorbed by the Maxwell publishing empire and became an imprint specialising in sports books. In 2007 it was acquired by Fleming’s literary estate. It is now managed by his niece Kate Grimond and his nephew Fergus Fleming.
Further publications are planned. |
