William Heinemann

William Henry Heinemann (18 May 1863 – 5 October 1920) was an English publisher of Jewish descent and the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London.

Early life On 18 May 1863, William Heinemann was born in Surbiton, Surrey, England. His father Louis Heinemann was a native of Hanover, Germany, who immigrated as a child with his family. He became a director of Parr's Bank. Heinemann's mother was born Jane Lavino. After Trübner died in 1884, Heinemann switched fields to literature.

He founded his own publishing house in Covent Garden in 1890. The company published many translations of the classics in Great Britain. It also published such contemporary authors as H. G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, and American poet Sylvia Plath. She was living and working in England after her marriage to poet Ted Hughes. Wedding guests included James Abbott McNeill Whistler, the painter, whose book The Gentle Art of Making Enemies Heinemann had published in 1890. Whistler attended their wedding as the best man and painted the bride's portrait in 1900. In 1904, Heinemann divorced his wife. On 5 October 1920, Heinemann died unexpectedly in London, England.