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Who is W.H. Smith?

William Henry Smith (1825-1891) was the head of his eponymous news and bookselling business WH Smith & Son when George Moore emerged as a risqué poet, playwright and novelist in the early 1880s. Like his contemporary Charles Edward Mudie, Smith did not publish, advertise, lend or sell books by George Moore, thus impeding the debut author from reaching the public anywhere in Great Britain. Both Smith and Mudie had enormous influence not just as threats, but as challenges to Moore as he made his uncompromising way with all of his artistic integrity intact.