Michael Joseph

Background

He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Career

He served in the British Army during the First World War, and then embarked on a writing career, his first book being Short Story Writing for Profit (1923). After a period as a literary agent for Curtis Brown, Joseph founded his own publishing imprint as a subsidiary of Victor Gollancz Limited. Gollancz invested £4000 in Michael Joseph Limited, established 5 September 1935.

Joseph and Victor Gollancz disagreed on many points and Michael Joseph bought out Gollancz Limited in 1938 after Gollancz attempted to censor Across the Frontiers by Sir Philip Gibbs on political grounds.

(Joseph published the first edition in 1938 and a revised edition the following May) Among the authors Joseph published were H. East. Bates, C. South. Forester, Monica Dickens, Richard Llewellyn, Joyce Cary, Richard Gordon and Vita Sackville-West. He died of septicaemia after a delayed medical operation in 1958 and his widow Anthea Joseph rescued the company from the following crisis.

In 1985, Michael Joseph Limited was acquired by Penguin Books.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Discovery, a play in three acts
  • Journalism for profit / by Michael Joseph; with a foreword by Sir Philip Gibbs
  • Short story writing for profit,
  • The Commercial Side of Literature.
  • Short Story Writing for Profit.

Membership

11, Portuguese of Philadelphia, 1948–1953. Deputy managing director, city of Philadelphia, 1953–1955. Member of Pennsylvania Navigation Commission for the Delaware River, 1954–1964.

Chairman, Board of Fair Labor Standards, city of Philadelphia, 1954-1962.

He became a member of Board of Revision of Taxes, city of Philadelphia, April 1955. Retired in 1976; resided in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he died, 1979.

Interment in Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Pennsylvania.