JAMIE BRITTON recommends that we all buy at least two copies of a remarkable book of poems
Aldus Manutius: The Invention of the Publisher
Oren Margolis, Reaktion Books, £17.95
IT should be no surprise that an ambitious publisher with a mission, drawn to progressive ideas, was in the vanguard of a cultural revolution in the English-speaking world.
With the launch of Penguin Books in the 1930s and the establishment in Britain of a 20th-century icon, the paperback, Allen Lane revealed both the vast potential of a mass market for fine writing and a hunger for greater access to it among working people.
Lane believed fervently in adult education and was driven by a compulsion to enlighten the masses, and senior editors of Pelican, his non-fiction imprint after 1937, were also involved in the Workers’ Educational Association.
MARTIN HALL examines the way the Roman orator took on different schools of philosophy
MATTHEW HAWKINS applauds a psychotherapist’s dissection of William Blake
SALEEM BADAT and VASU REDDY introduce a new book about an outstanding interpreter of the world, and an activist scholar committed to changing society
BLANE SAVAGE recommends the display of nine previously unseen works by the Glaswegian artist, novelist and playwright


