Edward Goldston

Born: 1892.

Died: 1953.

Co-owner, with P.R. Stephensen of the Mandrake Press. Goldston abandoned his university science studies at the age of twenty and pursued his love of books by persuading Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Company to employ him in a revived Oriental Department in London. In 1922 he went into business on his own in Museum Street, dealing in Orientalia and publishing works of Jewish interest. Advising and collecting for the great libraries of the world, he made his greatest mark on the rare books scene in 1925 with the sensational coup of the purchase of the Melk monastery copy of the vellum Gutenberg Bible, which he subsequently sold at auction in New York for more than twice his purchase price. His Bloomsbury shop and gallery were visited by the rich and famous, and in the late 1920s he indulged his interest in fine publishing by investing in a number of private presses—of which the Mandrake was but one. He went on to play an active part in rescuing Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, became a leading Freemason, and in later years made an enormous contribution to the publication of Hebraica and Judaica through the impressive output of his own publishing firm. Goldston provided the financial backing for the Mandrake Press but he was by no means a sleeping partner in terms of its literary and publishing expertise.