Balston, Thomas.

Thomas Balston was a partner in Gerald Duckworth & Co., the Sitwells’ publisher.

From the guide to the Thomas Balston Papers of the Sitwells, 1924-1960, (Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections)

Epithet: partner at Gerald Duckworth and Company

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000977.0x0001e2

Thomas Balston (1883-1967) was director of the publishers Duckworth and Co., as well as a distinguished scholar of English book production, notably illustrations. In 1947, he published a full-length biography of John Martin (1789-1854). Martin had been commissioned (circa 1822) by the London publisher Septimus Prowett to design and engrave twenty-four plates for a large paper edition of Paradise Lost and a similar set of smaller plates to appear in a smaller edition of the work. It is this smaller set of plates which, in the 1940s, Balston wanted King Penguin Books to publish. King Penguin Books initially accepted the idea, but later decided the plates could not be reproduced adequately. Thus, the work was never published.

From the guide to the Thomas Balston Papers, 1946-1948, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Rare Book Literary and Historical Papers.)

Partner in Gerald Duckworth and Company, British publisher of the Sitwells.

From the description of Papers, 1924-1960. (Washington State University). WorldCat record id: 29852732