George Braziller


George Braziller was an American book publisher and the founder of George Braziller, Inc., a firm known for its literary and artistic books and its publication of foreign authors.

Life and career

Born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 12, 1916, Braziller was first employed as a shipping clerk, during the Great Depression. In 1941, George and Marsha Braziller founded the "Book Find Club", which was smaller than the Book of the Month Club but exceedingly successful, "with a reputation for seriousness of purpose." They then began the "Seven Arts Book Society" in 1951 and in 1955 they began to publish their own books.
The Braziller publishing firm is located at 277 Broadway, Suite 708, in Manhattan, New York City. When Braziller travelled to Europe in the late 1950s, he was in Paris during the May 1958 crisis in France brought about by the Algerian War of Independence. Henri Alleg's book La Question, an autobiographical account of imprisonment and torture in Algiers, which Braziller brought back from that trip and published in English-language translation, was his firm's first big success in the United States, with an introduction written by Jean-Paul Sartre.
In 2011, George Braziller retired at the age of 95. His son Michael Braziller, of Persea Books, became publisher and editorial director while George's elder son Joel Braziller became secretary-treasurer and director of permissions. With a small team they maintain the Braziller tradition with new series and a rich backlist.
Braziller died in Manhattan, New York, on March 16, 2017, at the age of 101.

Book series

Book series published by George Braziller have included:
Beginning in 1968, Braziller also published an implicit series of "excellent editions of partial facsimiles" of medieval manuscripts.
Book series published by Michael Braziller have included: