Antony Kamm

Antony Kamm (2 March 1931 – 11 February 2011) was an English publisher, author, historian and cricketer.^[1]

Biography

Antony Kamm was born in Hampstead, London, the son of George Kamm, a founder director of Pan Books^[2] and his wife Josephine, a biographer and novelist (who was a first cousin of Herbert Samuel). Kamm was of Jewish ancestry.^[3]

He was educated at Charterhouse where he captained the 1st XI before his National Service in the Navy.^[1] He read Classics for two years before switching to English Literature at Worcester College, Oxford University.^[1] He also played hockey and fives for the university. He was a right-handed batsman and wicket keeper who represented Middlesex in two first-class matches in 1952,^[1] six for Oxford University (1952–1955; blue 1954) and once for Free Foresters in 1956.

Kamm led a successful career in publishing. His first job was for the National Book League, a charity advocating the benefits of reading, working under Jack Morpurgo, the step-father of the children's writer Michael Morpurgo.^[4] He became the editorial director of the Leicester-based publisher, Brockhampton Press, in 1960. In this role, he acquired the rights to the Asterix comic books, launching English editions of them which began in 1968, co-translated by his then wife, Anthea Bell, and Derek Hockridge. He became chairman of the Children's Book Group at the Publishers’ Association, and was a consultant to UNESCO.^[4]

During the 1970s, Kamm worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London and began to work for Oxford University Press in charge of its children's books division.^[4] Kamm wrote several books, especially on Roman history and children's literature. His biography of Scottish engineer John Logie Baird, co-written with Malcolm Baird, was published in 2002.^[4] In addition to his writing, he was also a lecturer in publishing at Stirling University (1988–1995).^[1]

He married Anthea Bell (1936–2018) in 1957; the couple had two sons, Richard and Oliver (the latter, a journalist at The Times), but subsequently divorced in 1973. His second marriage was to the biographer and children's author Eileen Dunlop (born 1938). Kamm died in Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland.^[1]

Bibliography

• Collins Biographical Dictionary of English Literature (1993)
• The Romans: An Introduction (1995)
• The Israelites: An Introduction (1999)
• John Logie Baird: A Life (Malcolm Baird, 2002)
• The Last Frontier (2004)
• Julius Caesar: A Life (2006)
• Scottish Collection of Verse to 1800 (with Eileen Dunlop)
• Scottish Printed Books, 1508–2008 (2008)