Lawrence & Wishart.

Lawrence & Wishart is an independent British publishing company that was founded in 1936 through the merger of Martin Lawrence, the Communist Party's press, and Wishart Ltd., a family-owned liberal and anti-fascist publisher. During the late 1930s, the press was involved in the political and cultural life of the Popular Front, and published literature, drama, and poetry, as well as political economy, working-class history and the classics of Marxism. From 1936 to 1938, Lawrence & Wishart published New Writing, a biannual literary anthology edited by John Lehmann.

Lawrence & Wishart has evolved over the years, but continues to publish works that examine the relationship between politics and culture.

Historical information drawn from the publisher's website: http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/about.html (accessed on 5 August 2010).

Ernest Edward Wishart established the publishing house Wishart & Company in the late 1920s. The company published Scrutinies by various writers edited by Edgell Rickford (the first volume appeared in 1928, and the second volume followed in 1931); Sligo (1930) by Jack Butler Yeats; Negro Anthology (1934) edited by Nancy Cunard; and Jews Without Jehovah (1934) by Gerald Kersh.

Wishart was born in Dulwich, England in 1902, and was educated at Rugby School and Cambridge. In 1927 he married Lorna Garman, the younger sister of his friend Douglas Garman who worked with him at Wishart & Company, and they had two sons, Michael and Luke. Wishart retired from the publishing business in the 1950s and went on to pursue other interests. He died in 1987.

From the guide to the Lawrence & Wishart records, 1927-1951, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)