New owner plans digital future for Phaidon

Phaidon Press, which has long specialised in art books, has been bought by the family of Leon Black (below). Black, who is a wealthy US businessman and art collector, says in a statement that the publisher will expand geographically and launch digital products. Richard Schlagman, who bought Phaidon when it was in receivership in 1990 and was reported to have invested £4m in the publisher in July 2011, told the Financial Times newspaper that the company has secured electronic rights to its backlist of titles, opening the way to moving into e-books. Phaidon was founded in Vienna in 1923 and moved to London in the late 1930s. Its success was based on producing art books, often large-format, at affordable prices, pioneering international co-editions with large print runs.