Laurie, Thomas Werner

Undated photograph of Thomas Werner Laurie (not wearing a hat) speaking with an associate Harry Clifford on the doorstep of his publishing office at Clifford’s Inn, Fleet Street, London. Photo courtesy of Mr. Tom Brown, a teenage employee of the firm back in the day.

Scotsman T. Werner Laurie (1866–1944) was George Moore’s London publisher 1904-1921.

The titles he published were Confessions of a Young Man (1904), Spring Days (1912), Impressions and Opinions (1913), The Brook Kerith (1916), A Story-Teller’s Holiday (1918), Avowals (1919), The Coming of Gabrielle (1920), Heloise and Abelard (1921). He also published Maurice Moore’s An Irish Gentleman (1913) with a preface by George.

The first edition of George Moore’s The Brook Kerith (1916) introducing a cover design that was later used in Heinemann’s Uniform Edition.

Beginning in 1918, Moore’s books were “privately printed” by Laurie in signed, limited editions using the imprint of Cumann Sean-eolais na h-Eireann (Gaelic for an imaginary Society for Irish Folklore). The subterfuge was a reaction to legal challenges that arose from Laurie’s publication of The Brook Kerith (1916) and Heinemann’s publication of Lewis Seymour and Some Women (1917).

The first signed limited edition of The Brook Kerith (1916) published by T. Werner Laurie introduced a cover design that was later used in Liveright’s Carra Edition of Moore’s works.

George Moore Interactive

Laurie, Thomas Werner

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