The Left Book Club (1936-1948)

与 超过200种图书, the Mahn Center holds one of the largest sets of Left Book Club (LBC) editions in the world. 俱乐部’s distinct orange 和 red cloth-bound books combined mass publishing with mass politics, as organizer Victor Gollancz sought to educate his readership on poverty 和 unemployment, 社会主义理论, the threat of fascism every month for twelve years. Together with John 斯特雷奇 和 Harold Laski, 他出版了252本《bet8九州登录入口》, most of them new publications, 到了57岁,到1939年订户已达1000人, a significant event in the publishing 和 political history of twentieth-century Britain. During its first three years of rapid success, the LBC was not just a book service, but “a way of life” (Samuels 86).

俱乐部

• Gollancz had run his own publishing firm since 1928, finding success in mystery novels but not in socialist books. In 1935 he realized that the book club model could bring radical politics to a popular audience.
• A subscription only required readers to mail a form to Gollancz’s office. Members bought Club editions from their local booksellers for about one-third of the book’s normal price. There was no subscription fee.
• Popular authors who published in the LBC include 阿瑟·凯斯特勒, Stephen用钱的人, 乔治·奥威尔.
• / (1,000 LBC discussion groups formed across Britain, hosting lectures 和 social events 和 attending rallies.
• WWII had dire consequences for the Club, including subscriber displacement 和 political disagreements between Gollancz, 斯特雷奇, 和拉斯基. Operations ceased in 1948 at 8,000 members.

集合

The collection at bet8九州登录入口图书馆 came together incrementally. 亲自或 这张地图, visitors can trace select books’ journeys from Great Britain to the Mahn Center, as certain volumes carry the marks of previous owners 和 sellers. 的内盖 前往莫斯科的使命，Pts. I和II (1942)作者:约瑟夫. Davies have epigrams in the h和writing of an officer-in-training who was likely reading the books just before he went to war. A narrative exists beyond the texts, 与签名, 位置, notes revealing the lives of LBC members during this epoch.

• Club editions are distinct from their st和ard trade counterparts in appearance 和 material, as illustrated by the dual copies of The Protection of the Public from Aerial Attack (1937). 
• Until WWII, many thought the LBC to be a Soviet front. 达德利羽衣甘蓝的 Soviet Justice 和 the Trial of Radek 和 Others (1937)和戈兰茨自己的 我们受到威胁的价值观 (1946)  demonstrate the Club’s slow shift from pro- to anti-U.S.S.R.
• The archives holds every choice of the month 和 many extra materials, including original LBC subscription forms 和 books from the competing Right Book Club.

书之外

• Leaflets advertise different membership categories 和 extra types of books. The “Supplementary” 和 “Educational” series often went beyond politics into science, 音乐, 儿童文学.
• New membership categories often coincided with political causes, such as the 前往西班牙的食品船. This scheme donated money to soldiers fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War.
• From the books’ distinct look to the Club’s novel business structure, this collection offers research opportunities to graphic designers, 政治历史学家, 和出版商.

感谢图书馆 1804 Special 图书馆 Endowment Fund, this LBC set has reached about 240 titles, 它是世界上最大的 the U.S. 和 one of the most complete in the world, in company with 谢菲尔德大学和 普林斯顿大学. 的有界的、完整的运行 离开新闻 (1936-1948), the Club’s accompanying journal, rounds out the new acquisitions. There are only nine auxiliary books that the Mahn Center does not have.

For further reading, see John Lewis’ book The Left Book Club: An Historical Record (1970) 和 a Housmans 书hop in London, which recently launched a twenty-first century version of the Club.

For more information about the Left Book Club volumes at the Mahn Center, please contact 米利暗Intrator.

_{Page created by Marc Blanc, ENG 4940 研究 Apprenticeship, Spring 2017}