Waterfield, Robin E. (Robin Everard), 1914-2002

Robin (Robert Everard) Waterfield (1914-2002), the son of a doctor in the Sudan medical service, was originally intended for a career in medicine.  After a failed attempt at a medical degree at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, Waterfield worked for a series of publishers and booksellers, including George Allen and Unwin, Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. in Windsor, and Grafton's, opposite the British Museum.  During the Second World War, Waterfield was an anti-aircraft gunner, and later worked with Japanese diplomatic decrypts.  From 1951-1956 Waterfield and his second wife, Sophie Harper, ran a children's home at Mortimer, Berkshire.  In 1957 they became missionaries, and went to Iran to run a boys' hostel.  They did not return to England until 1973.  In 1974, he opened Robin Waterfield Ltd., an antiquarian bookshop, where he worked until being forced to retire in 1980.

Throughout his life, Waterfield was an active book dealer, publisher, and writer. 

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