Gustav Rex Collings (18 June 1925 – 23 May 1996,Hitchin, Hertfordshire) was an English publisher who specialized in books relating toAfrica andchildren's books. He ensured the publication ofWole Soyinka's plays, and was the first to publishWatership Down (1972) byRichard Adams.[1]
Collings started atPenguin before moving toOxford University Press, where he established theThree Crowns Series for books on African subjects. He then moved toMethuen before setting up his own publishing company, Rex Collings Ltd. He risked his own money in publishingWatership Down, which around thirty publishers had turned down.[2]
He was theLiberal Party candidate forPortsmouth Langstone constituency at the1964 general election andNorth Norfolk in1979.