Optimism for the paper book

Legendary publisher George Weidenfeld, of Weidenfeld & Nicolson, thinks the conventional book will share the future with its electronic cousin.

Weidenfeld, whose publishing firm is celebrating its 60th anniversary, says: "I believe the electronic book has a future.

"But that is the case for reading for information - some genres will, broadly, disappear in paper format. There will still be beautiful books, though, ones you'd want on your library shelves. They will remain as works of art or in the case of a book you want to have constantly in front of you. It will, of course, have an effect on the number of publishers."

Nearly 90, Weidenfeld has been responsible for a list of authors ranging from Isaiah Berlin ("He very generously credits me with the title, The Hedgehog and The Fox"), via General de Gaulle ("I knew him from my time at the BBC"), to Vladimir Nabokov ("I used to make a pilgrimage to see him twice a year").

Born to a cosmopolitan Jewish family in Vienna, he moved to England in 1938 and initially worked at the BBC Overseas Service, where he was tasked with making contact with governments in exile, befriending not just de Gaulle but other world leaders and future authors, such as President Tito of Yugoslavia. In 1948, already a regular on the postwar London social scene, Weidenfeld met his future co-publisher Nigel Nicolson.

His London home displays the library of an elder statesman, yet the books on display alongside the first editions suggest someone eager to keep up with the modern world.

By the door is Tom Bower's volume on Gordon Brown and, on the coffee table, last year's novel by Bernhard Schlink in German sits beside What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis.

To hear him talk so confidently about the future may surprise both those who have heard the rumours that Weidenfeld shuns technology and those who have their doubts about the current performance of his firm.

Last year, Weidenfeld & Nicolson was accused of sacrificing highbrow history books in favour of a rush of celebrity memoirs, a charge which led Weidenfeld to write a letter to the London Observer.

Although he is no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the publisher, he remains its chairman and retains the power to commission books.

He seems oblivious to fears that the company has lost its way. "Hachette, who are now the owners, are the biggest publishing firm in the world but happily they believe in devolution," he says.

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