Nevill Drury

Nevill Drury (1 October 1947 – 15 October 2013) was an English-born Australian editor, publisher, and professional in many aspects of the publishing business, as well as the author of over 40 books on subjects ranging from shamanism and western magical traditions to art, music, and anthropology. His books have been published in 26 countries and in 19 languages.

Early life

Born in Hastings, England in 1947, Drury moved to Australia at the age of nine. He attended Sydney University in the late 1960s and later earned his Master of Arts (honours) degree in anthropology from Macquarie University. He received his PhD from the School of Humanities and Social Research, University of Newcastle in 2008 for a dissertation on the visionary art and magical beliefs of Rosaleen Norton.

Career

In 1970 Mr Drury was an English teacher at West Wyalong High School in the Riverina District of NSW. A few years later in 1976 he started working in the Australian book industry. He was a former managing editor for the holistic journal Nature and Health. A former managing editor for Harper and Row and Doubleday in Australia, he helped found the specialist visual arts publishing company Craftsman House in 1981, which became Australia's leading art book imprint. Drury worked full-time as publishing director of this company from 1989 to January 2000. He also co-edited Australian Painting Now, which was published in the UK and US by Thames & Hudson. He was briefly the manager of Adyar Bookshop in Sydney (2008-2012).