Bot at 23:23, 4 June 2022

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{{Short description|British publisher (1886–1957)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = David Geoffrey Bles
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name = David Geoffrey Bles
| birth_date = 5 September 1886
| birth_place = Chorley, Cheshire, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1957|4|3|1886|9|5|df=yes}}
| death_place = London, England
| known_for =
| alma mater = [[Merton College, Oxford]]
| occupation = Publisher
| spouse = Evelyn Constance Halse
| children =
}}

'''David Geoffrey Bles''' (1886–1957) was a British publisher, with a reputation for spotting new talent. He started his eponymous publishing firm in London in 1923<ref name=Hoop/> and published the first five books of [[C.S. Lewis]]' ''Narnia'' series.<ref name=Scott/>

==Early life==
Bles read [[Greats]] at [[Merton College, Oxford]], followed by entry to the [[Indian Civil Service]].<ref name=Hoop>Hooper, Walter. (2004) ''Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, The: Books, Broadcasts and the War, 1931–1949''. London: [[Harper Collins]], p. 554. {{ISBN|000628146X}}</ref><ref name="MCreg">{{cite book|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R.G.C.|title=Merton College Register 1900-1964|date=1964|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford|page=45}}</ref> During the First World War he was commissioned into the Indian Army Reserve of Officers in October 1917 and was attached to the 17th Cavalry, [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]], in November 1917.<ref name="ReferenceA">''The Star and Crescent'' by Major F. C. C. Yeats-Brown</ref> He served in the Political Department in [[Mesopotamia]] in 1918 before demobilization in June 1919 and returning to the Indian Civil Service.<ref name=Hutch/><ref name="ReferenceA"/> On 3 January 1920, he married Evelyn Constance Halse.

==Publishing career==
Bles entered publishing in 1923. Geoffrey Bles Limited were general publishers, but with a specialism in religion and translated works. Among the authors Bles published were: [[C.S. Lewis]], [[J.B. Phillips]], [[John Rhode|Cecil Street]], [[Mabel Lethbridge]], [[Halliday Sutherland]], [[Vicki Baum]],<ref name=Hutch>"Mr. Geoffrey Bles." Sir James Hutchinson, ''[[The Times]]'', 6 April 1957, p. 11. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 September 2014.</ref> and [[Maria von Trapp]].<ref name="Moore2011">{{cite book|author=William Mortimer Moore|title=Free France's Lion: The Life of Philippe Leclerc, de Gaulle's Greatest General|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wo7UAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR6|date=19 November 2011|publisher=Casemate|isbn=978-1-61200-068-8|page=6}}</ref>

Baum's ''Grand Hotel'' (1930), originally published in German, was a huge commercial success for Bles.<ref name=Hoop/>

Bles was introduced to C.S. Lewis through his employee Ashley Sampson (1900–1947) who owned the Centenary Press. Bles bought that company and merged it with his own, thus acquiring Lewis as an author.<ref name=Hoop/> Lewis's key religious work, ''[[The Problem of Pain]]'', was published jointly by Bles and Centenary Press in 1940, as were his ''[[Beyond Personality|Beyond Personality: The Christian Idea of God]]'' (1944) and ''The Great Divorce: A Dream'' (1945).<ref name=Scott/>

Bles published on his own Lewis' ''[[The Screwtape Letters]]'' (1942), ''[[The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe]]'' (1950), and the next four in the [[Narnia series]] up to ''[[The Horse and his Boy]]'' (1954). For the last two books in the series Lewis moved to [[Bodley Head]].<ref name=Scott>Scott, Jonathan. (2009) ''The Rare Book Price Guide 2010''. London: [[Diamond Publishing]], p. 420. {{ISBN|0953260186}}</ref>

[[William Collins, Sons|William Collins]] publishers bought the firm of Geoffrey Bles in 1953, and Bles retired within a year or two. Books continued to be published under the Bles imprint into the 1970s.<ref>[http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A52884 Geoffrey Bles.] Aust Lit. Retrieved 2 September 2014.</ref> The Garnstone Press purchased the Geoffrey Bles name from Collins in 1971.<ref name=Balf>"Sir Ian Anstruther of that Ilk." Michael Balfour, ''The Times'', 11 August 2007, p. 60. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 September 2014.</ref>

Following his death, correspondents commented in ''The Times'' on his personal suitability to the [[genteel]] world of literary publishing.<ref name=Balf/><ref name=JGL/>

==Outside publishing==
Bles was a member of the board of [[Charing Cross Hospital]] for many years.<ref name=JGL>"Mr. Geoffrey Bles." J.G.L., ''The Times'', 8 April 1957, p. 14. The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 September 2014.</ref>

His great nephew is the writer William Mortimer Moore whose ''Free France's Lion: The Life of Philippe Leclerc, de Gaulle's Greatest General'' was published in 2011 and is dedicated to Bles.<ref name="Moore2011"/>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bles, Geoffrey}}
[[Category:1957 deaths]]
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:British publishers (people)]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]

Geoffrey Bles - Revision history

Bot at 23:23, 4 June 2022