Anthony Rowe

Obituary

by Lionel Levanthal

Anthony Rowe, the printer who was known widely in the book trade, died last month. He was a remarkable person, a gentleman.

Lionel Leventhal, in his On Publishing, wrote:

    “In the period leading to my sale of Arms & Armour Press, there had been a significant development in printing: the short-run printing process. A combination of factors enabled a British printer, Antony Rowe, to set up a system whereby books could be printed economically in lower quantities than ever before. A short run meant that one could reprint books that were out of stock, or reprint older titles that were out of print but catered for niche or specialist audiences, in a publishing context.”

The Daily Telegraph sub-titled their large Obituary notice ‘Submariner, Olympic oarsman and printer who produced the controversial edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ and said:

    “In 1983 Rowe then founded Antony Rowe Limited, an innovative short-run book producer . . . Rowe’s short-run technology defined the market, and publishers are now able to produce high quality short-runs of reprints and end-of-line textbooks at economically viable unit costs; in some cases even single copies of books can be produced on demand. The company now employs more than 300 people.”

Antony Rowe had a remarkable life and, at the age of sixty-five he decided to take up riding. With his wife he rode across Spain, France, Turkey, Portugal, Africa, India (twice) and the Andes. He died aged 79.


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