Reinhardt Books

Abstract

Max began to rebuild his small empire when he changed the name of HFL to Reinhardt Books in 1985. Adding Nonesuch the following year was important to him; it provided the continuity and personal prestige that was threatened within the group. ‘Reinhardt Books Limited is [a] family-owned business’ his announcement read. ‘It is particularly appropriate that the association between the Meynell and the Reinhardt families will be maintained as Max Reinhardt has been a director of The Nonesuch Press since 1953, with Sir Francis’ widow, Dame Alix Meynell, as Chairman, and they are now reversing their roles, with Dame Alix remaining as a director.’ As the CVBC fiasco played itself out, Max’s larger concern had been keeping The Bodley Head. When it was sold he moved quickly into what he called ‘our small operation’ with Penguin. Reinhardt Books was neither part of the Penguin group nor entirely separate from it but operated as something of a cottage industry under the Penguin umbrella in a quiet arrangement between Max and Peter Mayer. Max had wanted to call the imprint Max Reinhardt Books. But the sale of The Bodley Head made that legally impossible.