Trade bids farewell to sales 'legend' John Talbot after death, aged 82

Publishers have paid their respects to John Talbot, a well-known and highly regarded sales representative, who has died at the age of 82. 

Born 19th July 1939, Talbot worked at Pan Macmillan for many years, before taking on a number of independent publishers in a freelance capacity. He joined Inpress in 2013 and was still working there until March this year, when he was taken into hospital after a fall.

"John was a delight to work with, he loved selling books and loved telling tales of the books he had sold in the past and the characters he had met," said Sophie O’Neill, Inpress m.d. "He was a real gentleman, very generous with his knowledge and his time, and I feel really honoured to have worked with him."

Other publishers under the Inpress umbrella paid tribute to Talbot and his family.

"He was old-school in the best sense of the term: belief in the product, [in] books, all of them, and belief in personal contact as the best selling tool," said Mick Felton, publisher at Seren Books. "I guess that’s why he never quite felt able to retire: the lure of the next book and its possibilities is an addiction that afflicts us all. He was a very generous person, and engaged with so many things. I’ll remember him as a seller of books and as a storyteller who passed on information, and his long experience, in our conversations."

"I was struck by his kindness and genuine interest in what we were all up to; no mean feat given the number of books and publishers he must have had to process as a sales rep," said Tom Chivers, director of Penned in the Margins. "One always felt, talking to John, that you had his total attention."

The team at Sandstone Press said: "John was affectionately respected and will be much missed," while Jan Fortune, director at Cinnamon Press, described him as a "professional and gracious person". 

"John was an absolute legend, from publishing back in the day and into the 21st century. I can’t think of anyone else in publishing whose career spanned so many decades and who sold so many books. [He was] completely unique and [will be] much missed," said Jane Pike, trade sales account manager at Inpress.

His family and friends celebrated his life at a funeral last week. Well-wishers’ donations were given to Great Ormond Street Hospital.