In the world of books and book collectors the name of George Lazarus will always be synonymous with his collection of D. H. Lawrence books and manuscripts, which was unquestionably the best formed by any private collector. His library, however, once included other author collections of comparable quality.

The eldest of four children, Lazarus was born in London to Solomon and Mabel Abrahams Lazarus on 15 March 1904. In 1925, when he graduated from Caius College, Cambridge, where he read modern languages, Lazarus was already a collector of books. He had become convinced that John Galsworthy's Forsyte stories were of lasting value and in the mainstream of the English novel. As he began his work on the London Stock Exchange--he eventually became senior partner in the family business, Lazarus Brothers, jobbers in gold shares--he set about building a collection of serious fiction of the twentieth century. The collection reflected his own...