ABA Past Presidents 1950-1960
Winifred Alice Myers (1909-1985) served as ABA president in 1950-1952. Robin Myers (no relation) writes:
Early Years: The Education of a Bookseller (1909-1928)
It was always clear to Winnie, as she was known, that she would go into the trade. Her father, the antiquarian bookseller, Albert Isaac (Ike) Myers (1865-1944), had no sons and Winnie’s elder half-sister, Phyllis May (1896-1966), daughter of Ike’s first wife who died young, was a semi-invalid all her life. Winnie, the daughter of his second marriage to Louise (Louie) (née Hess, 1869-1948), was a cousin of the pianist, Myra Hess ... Read more
J. E. Stanley Sawyer (1952-1953)
J. E. Stanley Sawyer served as ABA president in 1952-1953 and as president of ILAB in 1955-1957
Ian R. Grant (1954-1955)
Ian R. Grant of the famous Edinburgh bookselling family was ABA president in 1954-1955 and again in 1973-1974. His wife Senga Grant served as president in 1986-1988.
H. R. T. Williams (1955-1956)
H. R. T. Williams of Bernard Quaritch Ltd. served as ABA president in 1955-1956
Peter Auriol Murray Hill, who served as ABA president in 1956-1957, was born on 20th April 1908 at Bushey in Hertfordshire, the son of George Murray Hill, a solicitor, and his second wife Ida Stogdon, who had married in 1907.
Tall, handsome and charming, his first career was on the stage ... Read more
Thomas C. Thorp (1957-1958)
Thomas C. Thorp of the London and Guildford bookselling family was ABA president in 1957-1958
Alan Gradon Thomas (1911-1992) was born in Hampstead, North London, on the 19th October 1911 – the son of Albert Edward Thomas, a local newsagent and stationer, and his wife Evelyn Gradon, originally from Durham, who had married the previous year ... Read more
Harry Pratley (1959-1960)
Harry (Wilfred Henry) Pratley (1905-1987) of Tunbridge Wells was ABA president in 1959-1960.