John Hayward's career began in the mid 1920s and continued into the two decades of cultural change that followed World War II. He was devoted to books and their readers; to literature, especially poetry; to his friends; to lively conversation and social interchange; and, perhaps above all, to extraordinary and uncompromising standards in writing and publishing. Scholar, anthologist, collector, critic, and editor, he is most widely remembered as a close friend and literary adviser to T. S. Eliot and as the person most responsible for the excellence of The Book Collector, from its inception in 1952 until his death in 1965. Hayward is equally remembered for his courage. Crippled, suffering progressive muscular deterioration, and confined to a wheelchair, he lived with determination and great enthusiasm, and in later years, according to friends, he kept himself alive through sheer willpower.

John Davy Hayward, born 2 February 1905, was the second child of John...