Pergamon Press

See Maxwell’s 600 page FBI file for much more - here https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/fbifiles/robertmaxwell.pdf

Pergamon Press - Article in Geochemical News magazine

The emergence of Pergamon Press In describing the origins of Pergamon Press I have borrowed heavily from Haines (1988, p. 134-136 and 166-168) and Kramish, 1986, p.250. As already mentioned, in 1945, Rosbaudwas smuggled out of Berlin in military uniform byEric Welsh.With the support of Welsh, Sir Charles Hambro,andCount Frederick van den Heuvel, Rosbaudhelped to establish a Springer Verlagaffiliate in London, collaborating with a young British army captain, of Czech origin, who had been press officer in Berlin for the Foreign Office, and who had adopted the name of Robert Maxwell. Books hidden in Herberstein castle, in Styria,supplied the initial stock. Springer Verlag wanted to resume its pre-war eminence and regain its old customers, especially in the United States, and in the years up to 1952 Springer Verlag needed Robert Maxwell because he was their outlet to the world. The collaboration with Maxwell between 1947-50 brought SpringerVerlag many successes, as no direct exports from Germany were then possible, and Maxwell knew how to obtain advantages for Springer Verlag in every respect. He cleverly used the difficulties which existed in Germany to Springer Verlag’s benefit. Without his intervention, this would not have been possible. The close relationship with Springer Verlag not only brought him great financial advantages but enabled him to lay the foundations on which he could build his publishing house, Pergamon Press. The company which was to become Pergamon Press was, in fact, founded jointly in 1948 by Butterworth and Co. (Publishers), Ltd., one of Britain’s oldest publishing houses, and Springer Verlag. It was called simply ButterworthSpringer, Ltd., and incorporated in April 1949. But its origins went back to November 1946, when the British Government suggested to Butterworth that it should enter the field of scientific publishing.A company history says that the Government’s emissary was Count Frederick Vanden Heuvel, a shadowy and influential person, described as “the epitome of a diplomat with his imperial whiskers and black homburg”. Vanden Heuvel (or Huyvel), a Dutchman by descent, was a Count of the Holy Roman Empire and died in 1963 at the age of 78. In reference books he was described as being a member of the British diplomatic service in Switzerland during the war - in fact, he was the station chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in Berne - and was awarded the high honour of the C.M.G. in 1945. Also involved were Captain Maxwell and some of the best-known scientists of the day. The scientists who met Butterworth in government offices in Great George Street, just off Whitehall, were: Sir Wallace Akers, Sir Charles Darwin, Sir Alfred Egerton, Sir Richard Gregory, Professor R.S. Hutton and Sir Edward Salisbury. Also there were representatives of Butterworth and Sir Charles Hambro, chairman of Hambro’s Bank. A Scientific Advisory Boardwas set up with Professor Hutton as its secretary. Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, joined the board at its second meeting. Sir Edward Appleton became a member in 1949. The Butterworth representatives were John Whitlock, their joint managing director, and Hugh Quennell, both of whom became directors of Butterworth-Springer when it was formed. Quennell and Whitlock, “novices in the world of science”, leaned on Vanden Heuvel for advice and support. John Whitlock used to refer to the Count as the cloak and dagger man. He was called by his friends Van, but those who had known him longer, and perhaps a little better than Whitlock, referred to him as Fanny the Fixer. The purpose of the Scientific Advisory Board was to develop British scientific publishing through Butterworth, using the expertise of SpringerVerlag. Paul Number 114, January 2003 21 Newsletter of the Geochemical Society Rosbaud, as a Springer Verlag protégé, was also at the initial meeting and was to edit the journal which the board proposed to publish. Rosbaud was another who had lived in the world of espionage and he had been introduced to Butterworth by Vanden Heuvel. The development of the Butterworth-Springer company was of labyrinthine complexity in its financial and company arrangements, and by 1948 Butterworth was becoming concerned about the links between Springer Verlag and Maxwell. A Butterworth account says that Rosbaud was at this time not on the Butterworth payroll, but working for them freelance. His reports on visits to Springer Verlag tended to reach Quennell via Vanden Heuvel, who got to know Robert Maxwell through Whitlock. In the summer of 1950 the Scientific Sales Manager of Butterworth, Ron Watson, believed that Butterworth-Springer worked more to the advantage of Springer than Butterworth. As a consequence, and after discussions in Berlin with Dr Lange and Ferdinand Springer, Butterworth decided to pull out of the partnership. In May 1951 Butterworth agreed to sell its interests to Maxwell for British Pounds (BP) 13,000 net and to a change of name for the company to Pergamon Press Ltd. (an original intention to change it to Parthenon Press was abandoned). Butterworth waived a debt of BP 23,547 owed to it by Butterworth-Springer, which meant it emerged from what it calls an “adventure” showing a loss of BP 10,547. The stock of titles published by Butterworth-Springer and handed to Pergamon, thus forming the beginning of Pergamon’s book list,consisted of five books and the following three journals: Spectrochimica Acta (bought by Vanden Heuvel for Butterworth from the Vatican)1 . Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. According to Kramish (op.cit., p. 250) the name, Pergamon Press, was proposed by Rosbaud. But Haines (op.cit, p. 38) says that: Maxwell took the name for his new company from a Greek town in Asia Minor, famous for a great work of art, the Altar of Pergamon, dedicated to the goddess Athena, and for a library unique in the civilised Mediterranean world. The company’s colophon, or publisher’s imprint, was taken from a head of Athena shown on the back of a coin of about 400 B.C. Board of Trade approval for the new name came on July 17, 1951. When Maxwell acquired Butterworth-Springer it had only the few journals and books mentioned above. Up to the end of 1987 Pergamon Press had published some 11,000 books, had 4,000 or so titles in print and was publishing new titles at the rate of 365-400 a year. Rosbaud collaborated with Maxwell over a number of years and then the relationship broke down (Haines, op.cit., p.166-168). Pergamon had moved in March 1955 to larger offices in Fitzroy Square, London, which were to remain its headquarters until the move to Headington Hill Hall, Oxford, in 1960. An extraordinary general meeting of the company had increased its capital from BP 10,000 to BP 50,000 by the creation of 40,000 shares. But this galloping expansion was resisted by Pergamon’s science director, Paul Rosbaud, who was, after Maxwell, the most important man in the company and one who, because of his reputation with SpringerVerlag, had the trust of many of the scientists whom Maxwell had recruited. Rosbaud doubted the wisdom of such a vaulting ambition and such rapid growth as Maxwell was demanding. Friction began to grow between him on the one hand and Maxwell and the rest of the board on the other. The row simmered for months before reaching a crisis in May 1956. Rosbaud had written a letter to Hugh Handsfield, editor-in-chief of the American scientific publishers McGraw-Hill, telling him that Pergamon could not fulfil his order for copies of Principles of Optics 2 in the time required, nor could it possibly quote him a price. But the time and the price were paramount in a deal which had already been negotiated by Maxwell.”Surely there must be some misunderstanding”, Rosbaud wrote to Handsfield: I don’t think there will be any hope for the sheets to be shipped for twelve to fifteen months, and with regard to price, we cannot possibly give you a quotation as we don’t even know the size of the book .... Maxwell exploded. There was an acrimonious meeting with Rosbaud on May 25, two days after that letter had been sent, and then a formal letter from Maxwell to his science director later that same day: This is to confirm our discussion this morning when I informed you of the immediate suspension from your duties as science editor .... I regret to have to take this step but I am afraid that your letter of May 23 addressed to the editor-in-chief of McGraw-Hill leaves me no alternative ... having regard to similar acts of disloyalty in the past about which you have been reprimanded. I would remind you also that in September 1955 you assured me, on your word of honour, of your loyalty, support and co-operation. I am afraid that I am unable to accept your apology and explanation that you have acted impulsively. I regard your letter to McGraw-Hill, together with many other recent actions you have taken, as constituting a definite breach of your service agreement with the company.(Haines, op.cit., p. 167). Rosbaud protested, in a reply written that day, that he had in no way been disloyal and said the suspension ordered by Maxwell was “entirely unjustified”. But at a special board meeting of Pergamon four days later Maxwell set out his case. He had, he said, earlier in the year agreed that publication of Principles of Optics would take place towards the end of 1956, with a view to getting a firm order from McGraw-Hill. He had also agreed with them a maximum price for 2,500 copies. When Rosbaud had seen the order he had taken “unilateral action of a most disloyal and harmful nature”. The only object of his action, said Maxwell, must have been to encourage McGraw-Hill to negotiate directly with him, thus “seeking to discredit the veracity as well as the authority of the Managing Director” (Maxwell). Dr Rosbaud admitted, again, that he had acted impulsively, but denied Maxwell’s allegations about his motives. The chairman of Pergamon in those days was Harry Siepmann, previously an executive director of the Bank of England, who had been recruited by Maxwell.The minutes record him (Siepmann) saying: He would categorically acquit Dr Rosbaud of disloyalty to the Press, though at the same time he considered him to be constitutionally unable to be loyal to any one person. He did not appear to realise that being loyal to a company meant being loyal to the individual members directing that company .... The letter should never have been written .... The suspension of Rosbaud was then confirmed. After negotiations, Rosbaud gave “undertakings about his future conduct”, but his days were numbered. By October the board was agreeing to pay him BP 2,500 for loss of office and Paul Rosbaud formally resigned and sold his shares. Maxwell said of him later: He was an outstanding editor of the European type from whom I learned some of the trade in the early days. After 1956 he was the European editor for Interscience Publishers and a consultant to other publishing companies. On September 28th 1961 Dr. Rosbaud was made the first recipient of the John T. Tate International Medal for distinguished service to physics, by the American Institute of Physics, “for his stimulating and unconquerable devotion to conscientious publication in the physical sciences” (Snavely, 2002) He died two years later

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