Karnac Books was founded on 24 March 1950 by Harry Karnac as a general interest bookshop at Gloucester Road, London SW7. Following strong sales of a D. W. Winnicott title, Harry Karnac began to increase his stock of mental health titles until they came to occupy the full floor of the shop’s basement. Word spread through the global mental health community and Karnac Books became the epicentre for English-language mental health publications, not only as a must-visit venue but also as a thriving mail-order business.

Before long, Harry took the plunge into publishing alongside bookselling and the Karnac imprint was born. Since 1950, Karnac has changed hands several times and Brett Kahr has met, befriended, and interviewed every single owner from the eponymous Harry Karnac to the present day. His detailed knowledge as customer, author, and friend of Karnac makes him the perfect person to write this history, undertaken as a labour of love and published to celebrate Karnac’s seventy-fifth anniversary. The book begins with an amusing introduction on the welcome affliction of Karnacitis, swiftly followed by a comprehensive history of early psychoanalytic publishing before leading into the first instalment of the chronicles of Karnac. The behind-the-scenes story of the iconic Karnac Books shows why it rose to be a pivotal member of the mental health community and continues to this day

Publisher: 

1. Phoenix Publishing House

Published: August 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 168

Dimensions: 15.2 x 0.9 x 22.9 cm