Philip Farrugia Randon writes:

■ Pawlu Mizzi has left us but his legacy lingers on. I remember clearly when the Maltese book was presented in the dreariest and most unattractive fashion. Those who found difficulty reading in Maltese were far from attracted while those who knew were overcome by the offer of books in other languages. 

Then Pawlu Mizzi took the bull by its horns. And the bull was indeed a wild one. I can assure everyone that Pawlu undertook this herculean task with great financial difficulties; I can vouch for that. But his aim was a noble one; money did not feature high on the agenda. 

Pawlu sought to renew, revive, discover Maltese authors and poets. He revived established ones, gave life to the re-publication of books on Malta which had been out of print. The Maltese author suddenly found a house where to park his wares. 

The Maltese book became attractive to look at and offered professional material. Naturally, the market is limited, but many of the results are highly professional and have enriched the Melitensia scene. 

The publication of the Heritage Magazine, which he edited and contributed to, provided an interesting and attractive manner of communicating knowledge on Malta and its history and culture in short articles in English by established authors. It slowly swelled into an encyclopedia. 

I knew Pawlu for many, many years and have always found him a gentle man and a gentleman. We always enjoyed meeting each other and exchanging views. Many years ago, when he was encountering serious difficulties in attaining his aim, I had halfjokingly asked him whether he felt like Don Quixote fighting the windmills. I can still remember his clear answer: “I may be Don Quixote but one day people may see me as a valiant knight. On the other hand, time will show those windmills what they truly are: forces of ignorance and prejudice.” 

His mission is now developed into a fully-fledged publishing house, ably managed by his son Joseph. The wind that moves the windmills is still strong but the windmills have lost.

Prof. Henry Frendo writes:

■ In Pawlu Mizzi’s passing, Malta and Gozo have lost a true son, a great contributor to our identity, literary, historical and cultural richness. 

Klabb Kotba Maltin was set up in 1970 at the same time that I had become editor of Il-Ħajja, a now defunct independent Catholic daily, which readily supported the initiative. 

This was a bold undertaking as Pawlu had no way of knowing whether his experiment would work, given that other Maltese publishing attempts in the past had been rather short-lived. In particular, he was not sure if publishing a book per month in Maltese would be sustainable. 

But he had an eye for merit and saleability, given his background in teaching and librarianship, not to mention his stints in journalism, TV production, even theatre and sports, and his pet subject, history. 

In Maltese we say “wara l-fatt kulħadd bravu” (everyone is wise after the event) but, actually, KKM in post-independent Malta was a calculated risk. The market was small. KKM was then supplemented by Midsea Books, which went on successfully to publish several scholarly works. 

Among KKM’s first hits were Frans Sammut’s iconic novel Il-Gaġġa, which was even made into a film, and my own book on Dimech, Lejn Tnissil ta’ Nazzjon, which created quite a stir. 

Mizzi had also given Malta a professional Maltese inspired career-breaking publishing house. When the dean of History at University College, Oxford, Tony Firth, had approached Clarendon to see my D.Phil thesis on the formation of Maltese political parties in 1976, they had said how very interesting it was, but Malta being just a small island, they did not think it would be viable. In 1979, Mizzi, who was a patriot, had no such qualms; it is now in its third edition. 

Mizzi’s magazine Heritage was also inspirational. Although many may not realise it, such discourse was a pacesetter for later developments, such as Kullana Kulturali and Heritage Malta. 

Mizzi also invested in multi-volume works such as Erin Serracino Inglott’s Il-Miklem Malti, Ġużé Aquilina’s famous Maltese-English-Maltese dictionary and brilliant life work, Herbert Ganado’s Rajt Malta Tinbidel and the four-volume Storja ta’ Malta, started by Andrew Vella, which is a work in progress, with the fourth volume on the 20th century scheduled for completion in a year’s time. 

In addition to all this, Pawlu was a role model of a family man, with his wife Maria raising three gifted children, the eldest of whom, Joseph, is mercifully continuing the family’s publishing legacy and tradition. 

Inevitably, Pawlu grew frail with the passage of time, although when I last visited him at the home for the elderly where he was staying he was still alert and as graceful as ever. 

I fondly remember a fit commemoration in his honour at the National Museum some years ago, when he was still in the best of health, and the thunderous applause that greeted his accolade. 

To his wife Maria and his children Joseph, Annamaria and Ginette, my profound and heartfelt condolences on the loss of a truly great and humble man.