George Bayntun

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George Bayntun (4 August 1873 - September 1940) was an English bookseller, bookbinder, and collector.

Born and living in Bath, Somerset, England. George Bayntun served an apprenticeship with the Taylor family, before starting his own bookbinding business in Northumberland Place in 1894. He took on London binders to raise the standard of craftsmanship and soon moved into larger premises on Walcot Street. It was recognised that "He has brought intelligence into play as well as high craftsmanship".[1] In 1920 he bought the business of George Gregory, and in 1939 Bayntun and Rivière binderies were incorporated into a new set of premises on Manvers Street (Bath), in which the business still exists today.

George Bayntun was described by Wilmarth Lewis in Collector's Progress:[2] "He wore a smock in the shop and after selling a certain number of books took snuff. The sneeze released fresh energies". He adhered to traditional book binding techniques and his response to an enquiry as to why is quoted "We work in the old way. Machine binding? Ah yes....but not for us." He had an especially good relationship with many pre-eminent American dealers, and Arthur Brenanto, Maurice Inman, Nat Ladden and Dr Rosenbach hosted a lunch in his honour on a visit to New York in 1936.

George Bayntun died at the age of 67 in 1940, having built a world famous business. Wilmarth Lewis wrote "After twenty seven years his books are sound and with any kind of care they will remain so forever". George Bayntun's last years were crowned by the frequent patronage of Queen Mary, who spent the war years near Bath. She granted the firm the appointment of Bookseller to Her Majesty in 1950.

After George Bayntun's death the firm continued with a series of managers, and George's only child, Constance, oversaw its survival. In 1953 she was joined by her son, Hylton Bayntun-Coward, and the following year he took over the management. He served twice as President of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association, in 1980-82 and 1992–93, and as High Sheriff of Avon in 1993-94. George Bayntun is now owned by Hylton's son, Edward Bayntun-Coward. Educated at Marlborough College and University College, Oxford, he worked for almost ten years at Maggs Bros Ltd in Berkeley Square. He is Chairman of the Bath Preservation Trust which incorporates a number of museums in Bath including No.1 Royal Crescent, The Building of Bath Museum at the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel, Beckford's Tower and the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.

References

  1. Book Auction Records for 1906
  2. Constable, 1964

External links