# Alan Clodd

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**Harold Alexander Clodd** (1918–2002), known as **Alan Clodd**, was an [Irish](/source/Irish_people) publisher, book collector, bookdealer and [bibliophile](/source/Bookworm), known for founding [Enitharmon Press](/source/Enitharmon_Press).[1][2][3][4]

## Biography

Harold Alexander Clodd was born on 22 May 1918 in [Dublin](/source/Dublin), Ireland to Harold Parker Clodd, a rubber broker, and Violet Mabel Clodd ().[2][5][6][7] Clodd's mother was born in [Limerick](/source/Limerick) to a family who ran a shop in [Blackrock, Dublin](/source/Blackrock,_Dublin).[3][6] Clodd's father was born in [London](/source/London) to English banker, writer and anthropologist [Edward Clodd](/source/Edward_Clodd).[2][7][8] Clodd had one older brother.[2]

Prior to Clodd's birth, the Clodd family had lived in the [Federated Malay States](/source/Federated_Malay_States) (present-day [Malaysia](/source/Malaysia)) before returning to Ireland.[2] In the 1920s the Clodd family moved to [Ffestiniog](/source/Ffestiniog) before settling in [Welwyn Garden City](/source/Welwyn_Garden_City).[2][7] Clodd was educated at [Bishop's Stortford College](/source/Bishop's_Stortford_College).[2]

## Career

Clodd first worked at the insurance firm [Scottish Widows](/source/Scottish_Widows).[2][9] During [World War II](/source/World_War_II) he was a [conscientious objector](/source/Conscientious_objector) and worked with the [Friends Ambulance Unit](/source/Friends_Ambulance_Unit) in Egypt and with [UNRRA](/source/UNRRA) in Italy. He returned to London and first worked for an [Oxford Street](/source/Oxford_Street) bookshop, then for five years at the [London Library](/source/London_Library). This was followed by a series of clerical jobs and finally, a career in book publishing. Alan Clodd retired from publishing in 1987, and died in 2002 in [London](/source/London).

In the 1950s and early 1960s Clodd published poetry pamphlets by [Christopher Logue](/source/Christopher_Logue), [Ronald Firbank](/source/Ronald_Firbank), and [Kathleen Raine](/source/Kathleen_Raine). In 1967 he founded the [Enitharmon Press](/source/Enitharmon_Press). The name came from a character ([Enitharmon](/source/Enitharmon)) by [William Blake](/source/William_Blake). The pressmark came from a William Blake woodcut.[10] The Enitharmon Press revived interest in [Frances Bellerby](/source/Frances_Bellerby), [Hugo Manning](/source/Hugo_Manning),[11][12] and [John Heath-Stubbs](/source/John_Heath-Stubbs). Alongside the familiar names of [Samuel Beckett](/source/Samuel_Beckett), [Jorge Luis Borges](/source/Jorge_Luis_Borges), [Federico García Lorca](/source/Federico_Garc%C3%ADa_Lorca), [Harold Pinter](/source/Harold_Pinter), [Kathleen Raine](/source/Kathleen_Raine), and [Vernon Watkins](/source/Vernon_Watkins), the Press also introduced [Frances Horovitz](/source/Frances_Horovitz), [Jeremy Hooker](/source/Jeremy_Hooker), [Jeremy Reed](/source/Jeremy_Reed), Richard Burns, [David Gascoyne](/source/David_Gascoyne) and [Peter Russell](/source/Peter_Russell_(poet)). The Press had published nearly 150 titles, before being passed on to Stephen Stuart-Smith.

### Collecting

During the 1950s Clodd began to collect books. His collection was strong in the [Victorian](/source/Victorian_literature) and [Edwardian](/source/Edwardian) authors who were contemporaries of his grandfather. He was also a collector of [First World War](/source/First_World_War) poets: [Edward Thomas](/source/Edward_Thomas_(poet)), [Ivor Gurney](/source/Ivor_Gurney), [Siegfried Sassoon](/source/Siegfried_Sassoon), and [David Jones](/source/David_Jones_(poet)), and other authors like [Christopher Isherwood](/source/Christopher_Isherwood), [W. H. Auden](/source/W._H._Auden), [Edward Upward](/source/Edward_Upward), and [Evelyn Waugh](/source/Evelyn_Waugh). He had almost every publication by [T. S. Eliot](/source/T._S._Eliot) and [Ezra Pound](/source/Ezra_Pound), as well as books by [James Joyce](/source/James_Joyce), [Samuel Beckett](/source/Samuel_Beckett), and [Seamus Heaney](/source/Seamus_Heaney). Many of the books were inscribed. His collection was catalogued and dispersed by the bookselling firm [Maggs Bros Ltd](/source/Maggs_Bros_Ltd) of London.

## Personal life

Clodd was partners with George McLean from 1956 until McLean's death in 1989.[2][13]

Clodd died on 24 December 2002 in London aged 84.[2][14][5]

## References

1. ["Clodd, Alan, 1918-2002"](http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr92042418). *Library of Congress Name Authority File*. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. 5 August 2025. Retrieved 12 December 2025.

1. Stuart-Smith, Stephen (26 December 2002). ["Alan Clodd"](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/alan-clodd-137361.html). *[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241219002131/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/alan-clodd-137361.html) 19 December 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 December 2025.

1. Ní Chonalláin, Máire (19 December 2011). ["How It Is - The Beckett Clodd Collection"](https://www.nli.ie/news-stories/stories/how-it-beckett-clodd-collection). *Blog Archive*. Dublin: National Library of Ireland. Retrieved 12 December 2025.

1. ["Alan Clodd and the Enitharmon Press"](https://www.enitharmon.co.uk/product/alan-clodd-enitharmon-press/). *Enitharmon Editions*. 16 June 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2025.

1. "Harold Alexander Clodd [Death Index]", *England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes*, London: General Register Office, 2002

1. "Violet Mabel Clodd", *Census Returns of England and Wales, 1921*, Kew, Richmond: National Archives, 1921

1. "Harold Parker Clodd", *Census Returns of England and Wales, 1921*, Kew, Richmond: National Archives, 1921

1. ["(#12) Beckett, Samuel; The Library Of An English Bibliophile, Part 1"](https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/the-library-of-an-english-bibliophile-part-1-l10411/lot.12.html). *Sotheby's*. 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2025.

1. "RG 101/1218C Harold A Clodd", *1939 Register*, Kew, Richmond: National Archives, 1939

1. [Enitharmon press website.](http://www.enitharmon.co.uk/) (accessed 22 February 2008)

1. [Portrait of Hugo Manning, on the James Hyman Gallery website](http://www.jameshyman.co.uk/pages/galleryartists/single/2563/4150.html) Manning was poetry editor of the *[New Statesman](/source/New_Statesman)*, (last accessed 22 February 2008)

1. [The papers of Hugo Manning (1913-1977) are in Austin TX at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center](http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00083/hrc-00083.html), (accessed 22 February 2008)

1. ["Alan Clodd"](https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/alan-clodd-jlr6drp3vlb?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqcQiLcmbpMHlNZW2RNW8C-cCNpUYAipSu4yZUwJ445e5Qq0vXr9cndQyZmd5b0%3D&gaa_ts=693d9b5d&gaa_sig=yfPjsufnApShYx2W-4T2oQfEI25ap305mOwir2_L2lOddi-dfHh7bF40YjKtCbVHusko706ABJo2ROtIEVHa2g%3D%3D). *[The Times](/source/The_Times)*. 30 December 2002. Retrieved 13 December 2025.

1. ["Death Notices CLODD. Harold Alexander, (Alan)"](https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/260822225/). *The Guardian*. 2 January 2003. p. 16.

## Further reading

- Reed, Jeremy (2003) *Elegy for Alan Clodd*. London: Enitharmon Press
- Walker, Alan, comp. (2004) *Enitharmon Press: a checklist, 1987-2002*. London: Enitharmon Press ISBN 1-900564-59-9

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alan Clodd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Clodd) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Clodd?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.