RA Collection: People and Organisations
Sir Basil Henry Blackwell (1889-1984) was born in Oxford, England. He was the son of Benjamin Henry Blackwell (1849–1924), founder of Blackwell's bookshop in Oxford, which went on to become the Blackwell family's publishing and bookshop empire, located on Broad Street in central Oxford. In 1913, Basil Blackwell began working with his father at Blackwell's. Upon his father's death in 1924, he took over the company.