Rosemary Gray

Rosemary Gray served her apprenticeship in the legendary bookshops of the Charing Cross Road in the 1960s. She moved on to work in the editorial departments of a number of publishers, notably Methuen, Allen & Unwin, Cassell and Harrap, independent publishing companies which flourished in the twentieth century.

In 1985 she joined the staff of Quartet Books and worked there for Naim Attallah until 1993, when she left in order to become a freelance editor and proofreader able to collaborate more closely with her husband, the typesetter Antony Gray, who was working on Wordsworth’s vast and academically distinguished library of classics. Thus began a period of great happiness which ended with Antony’s tragic death in 2017.
Antony Gray set a great number of books for a variety of publishers but his work for Wordsworth perhaps brought him the greatest satisfaction. During those years, Rosemary Gray, when called upon to do so, compiled collections of short stories, poems, fairy tales, myths and legends, quotations and essays. A task for Wordsworth she particularly enjoyed was the selection of titles for The Wordsworth Collection of Classic Short Stories, Gripping Yarns and The Collector’s Book of Westerns.
Another source of pride for her was a charming collection,‘Twas the Night before Christmas and Other Christmas Stories, a positive cornucopia of delights for young readers.

These days, she lives and works in North London, trying to keep up with the radical changes the new technology has brought to the ancient art of book making.