Joseph Gluckstein Links

Joseph Gluckstein Links (13 December 1904 – 1 October 1997) was a British writer, art historian, and furrier who is principally known for his expertise and works on the Venetian painter Canaletto and for Venice for Pleasure, a travel guide to Venice.

Early life

Joseph Gluckstein Links was born on 13 December 1904 in London, to Katey (née Symons, 1 February 1882 - 29 August 1918) and Calman Links (1868 – 16 August 1925). Joseph or Joe, he was commonly called, had two younger siblings, Eileen Hannah Links (25 August 1909 – 1982) and Joyce Links (15 October 1914 – ).

His father was a Jewish refugee from Hungary who had co-founded the fur business, Calman Links. His mother died in 1918 before he was 13 years old. Two years later his father learned that he was also terminally ill. With no time to spare, he removed his son from school in order before he died to teach him the fur trade in general and how to run the business.

"I was an unwilling and sullen pupil", Links wrote, but he later appreciated that forced him into a career. "There was the business and I jolly well had to go and earn my living at it."

Career Furrier

While his father had mostly traded in skunk skins and thus the low end of the fur trade, Links after taking responsibility for the business moved it upmarket. In the 1920s, fur was very popular in the fashion world with every woman wanting a fur coat. By the 1930s, Calman Links was one of its most prominent furriers in London, which at the time was the centre of a booming luxury fur trade. Even the Great Depression had little impact on Calman Links.

Selfridges agreed to take 1,000 copies, provided Wheatley signed each one, which he gladly did. while Mary wrote biographies of both Ruskin and his wife, Effie Gray.

Canaletto

As a result of fascination with Venice, Links developed in interest in Venetian painter Canaletto. In 1962 Mary gave Links a copy of William G. Constable's recently published monograph on Canaletto, which mentioned a missing painting by the artist. Links recognized it as the painting hanging over his sister-in-law's fireplace and passed this information on to Constable, leading to the two men corresponding. When Constable meet Links in person he asked him to take over revising the book for its second edition. The task took Links six years rather than the six months Constable had anticipated.,

The result was Venice for Pleasure which received favourable reviews. In 1977 in The Times Bernard Levin called it "not only the best guide-book to that city ever written, but the best guide-book to any city ever written."

James Mustich listed the book in his 1,000 Books To Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List offering the opinion that "Links weaves a spell that evokes the joy of urban wanderings the enduring fascination of beauty, the ambience of time, and the pleasure of coming upon a welcoming cafe at just the moment one's feet need a rest and one's mind a respite."

A fifth expanded edition was published in 1994 and by 2015 it was in its ninth edition.

Death

He died at his London home on 1 October 1997.

Personal life

Links married writer Mary Lutyens (31 July 1908 – 9 April 1999) in 1945, with the marriage ending with his death. While the couple had no children of their own, Links was stepfather to Mary's daughter Amanda Lutyens Sewell by her previous marriage.

Fiction

Crime dossiers (with Dennis Wheatley) Murder off Miami, London: Hutchinson, July 1936. In America, William Morrow published it under the title Crimefile Number 1 File on Bolitho Blane,