Writer and former Chatto & Windus publishing director Jeremy Lewis, who worked in the literary world for 40 years and described himself a "Grub Street Irregular," has died, the Bookseller reported. He was 75. During his career, Lewis worked for several publishing houses, including William Collins, Oxford University Press and Chatto, as well as the literary agency A.P. Watt.
After his time as a publisher and agent, he went on to write three autobiographical works: Playing for Time; Kindred Spirits: Adrift in Literary London; and Grub Street Irregular: Scenes from Literary Life. Lewis also published a number of biographies, including Cyril Connolly: A Life; Tobias Smollett; Penguin Special: The Life and Times of Allen Lane; Shades of Greene: One Generation of an English Family; and David Astor: A Life in Print.
"Jeremy Lewis was one of the last old style publishers, a veteran of Deutsch and Chatto in their heyday," said Dan Franklin at Jonathan Cape. "He was a delightful, funny, gentle man, who loved gossip, a good lunch and a literary party.... He was widely loved and is going to be sadly missed."