The David and Brenda Herbert collection, featuring in our September Fine Art Auction
David and Brenda Herbert met at Penguin in the early 1950s and it was from there that their life in publishing began. David decended from the illustrious Herberts of Powis Castle. His elder brother George becoming the seventh Earl of Powis. His father was Bishop of Norwich.
David and Brenda married in 1955 and by the early 1960s David was installed as director at art publishers Studio Vista. Publishing such titles as Art Deco by Bevis Hillier, Kinetic Art by Guy Brett and Op Art by Cyril Barrett, all pioneering titles in their field.
By 1976 they had set up their own Herbert Press where Brenda was Editor. The office was installed in the dining room at their house in Belsize lane, Hampstead and they published books on art and architecture that would be overlooked by big publishers looking at the bottom line. There was the Herbert History of Art and Architecture series, Rowland Hilders England, The Dukes of Britain, The Art of Dora Carrington, Percy Edwards song birds, Ronnie Barkers post cards and so the eclectic list of their titles went on. Together they created an extensive and important legacy of Art History reference publishing.
They mixed in the literary and artistic circles of Hampstead at the time, meeting Mary Fedden and Julian Trevelyan amongst others, whose work they collected.
In 1983 the Herbert Press moved to Northchurch Road, Hackney. The business was run from the basement and they lived upstairs. The business was sold to A&C Black in 1995 and David died in 1996 but Brenda continued to live an energetic life in the house until her death earlier this year.
The present collection, removed from their Victorian Hackney townhouse, comprises rare books, Georgian furniture, works of art and a fine collection of Modern British Artists, many with personal connections to the Herberts.
