The bookseller, publisher and writer, David Garnett (1892-1981), was the son of the eminent literary reader Edward Garnett and his wife Constance, herself an renowned translator of Russian novels. David had been joint owner of the bookshop at 19 Taviton Street, London, Birrell & Garnett since 1919, the other significant related event was his becoming a director of the Nonesuch Press when it was founded in the basement of the bookshop in 1923.
He was indeed himself a prolific writer, perhaps best known for his metamorphic fantasy, award winning novel, Lady into Fox (1922), the tale of a man whose wife is suddenly transformed into a fox. It was published to great acclaim, winning the Hawthornden Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. This was not however his first novel, the elusive Dope Darling published in 1919 might be described as an “early” work (if anyone out there has a copy, I would love to see it or even purchase it)
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In the more serious vein of writing, his third and follow up novel, A Man in the Zoo (1924), concerned a man who is accepted by the London Zoo to be exhibited as an example of Homo sapiens. His later novels were perhaps not so successful, although each an excellent read. In particular I would point out The Grasshoppers Come (1930) a novel of flight. Of which T E Lawrence, to whom the author had presented a copy, wrote of it to Garnett;
The book pleased me quite beyond what I had thought possible. It is the first account of real flying by a real writer who can really fly: and it gave me a very great sense of long distance, and of that incommunicable cradle-dandling which is a cockpit in flight.
This novel was influenced by David’s learning to fly an aeroplane and later writing his reflections on this experience, Rabbit in the Air (1931), itself a splendid and evocative read of a time gone by. The title reflecting his nickname Bunny, used by his friends, said to have carried over from childhood when he had a rabbit-skin cap.
In the three volumes of memoirs, The Golden Echo (1953), The Flowers of the Forest (1955) and The Familiar Faces (1962) he recalls his time close to the Bloomsbury Group, was a lover of Duncan Grant, married Rachel (Ray) Marshall and after her death Angelica the daughter of Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.
One of David’s most enduring works (see one of our earlier blogs) was The Letters of T.E. Lawrence (1938) that remains a highly significant contribution of our understanding of TE and is a fine example of David’s editing skills.
He was therefore eminently qualified to write a note on bookselling and the book-trade when requested to do so by the American publisher Alfred A. Knopf. It is possible that Garnett never intended this to be published as a separate booklet, but Knopf, thought it, so graceful and sincere a tribute to the entire book-trade and more especially to the bookseller, that he published anyway. The original edition published in 1929 in an edition of just 2000 copies, in attractive variant bindings, to be given “hors commerce” and to Garnett’s friends. A whimsical piece of reflection of the pain and pleasure of being involved in the book-trade a snippet provides a flavour of the whole; The bookseller is the kindest-hearted man alive and extraordinarily long-suffering. He works hard for small returns, he usually spends half his time in giving free advice to everyone in his town, he does all the hard work of the book trade. A handsome edition was much later published at The Fleece Press in 1985 with an Introduction by David’s son Richard, himself being a publisher and including a wood-engraving of a bookshop interior by Howard Phipps.
To gain an insight into the thinking and reading of the extended Garnett family one can do little better than study the endlessly fascinating catalogue of David’s library as it was following his death in 1981 and shortly before its lamentable dispersal. It has been described as a tour of most of the high spots of British literature between 1900 and 1950 and it most certainly was. The printed catalogue compiled by the late Michael Hosking of The Golden Hind Bookshop is a veritable treasure trove and a source of inestimable study and envy.
Bookplate one 
Bookplate two
These books all tell of an intriguing and complex life, of an age now gone by and of an immeasurably fascinating range of personalities.
