Ralph Arnold (publisher)

Ralph Crispian Marshall Arnold (26 October 1906 – 23 September 1970) was a British novelist, historical writer and (from 1936) publisher with Constable and Co, where he rose to become chairman from 1958 until 1962.

[3] For a time Arnold also attended the Tennerhof school in Kitzbühel where future authors Ian Fleming and Nigel Dennis were also studying.

[5] He began his working career in 1929 at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (better known today as Chatham House), but joined the publisher's Constable in 1936.

For a year (1939–40) he was personal assistant to Lord Ironside, then Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces (and the model for John Buchan's character Richard Hannay).

[1] After the war Arnold returned to his publishing career at Constable and Co, whose list included Sir Harold Nicolson, Cecil Woodham-Smith, Patrick Hamilton and Bruce Marshall.

The light fiction includes the comedy set in an English village Hands across the Water (1946) and Spring List (1956), about two rival publishers fighting for the war memoirs of a famous general.