ABSTRACT
In July 19 6 2 , Oxford University Press editor Rex Collings “discovered” the plays of Wole Soyinka.1 He immediately attempted to persuade his manager, David Neale, that these plays should be included in the Three Crowns series, an eclectic collection of books about Africa published in London for both the UK and international market. Encountering initial opposition, Collings wrote an emphatic response:
I am convinced also that there is still a place for us in African publishing if we can plainly show that we are not in fact only interested in selling enormous quantities of primary school books by expatriate authors. This is quite commonly felt and believed although it is not altogether true in fact. Politically therefore it is also im portant that we should publish. If we don’t, I think we will have missed the bus.2
