Dr Nicola Wilson joined us for our June ’26 meeting and talked about The Book Society which was active between 1929-’69.
No archives exist for the Book Society so Nicola had to do a lot of research into the diaries, letters and lives of the judges who chose the books for the Society. Over 400 books were chosen by the Society between 1926-’69. Their choices provide a cultural literary history of the times.
The Society was modelled on the American Book Club and was set up in 1928 as an aid to the busy reader. The copies were first editions not cheap editions. A free monthly magazine was sent out to members which listed the chosen monthly title and a list of titles which could be exchanged for the one chosen if desired. The book included a personal Book Plate so that readers could personalise their copy. The Society was first located in London at Grosvenor place but later moved to club rooms. In the 1930’smembership reached 10,000 and the Society had advertisements in The Times. Books were priced from 7/6d to 10/6d .
In the early ‘20s there was not a culture of book buying. H.G. Wells considered it extravagant and wrong to buy books. A large part of the membership came from the colonies. There was some criticism of the Society and it was accused of ‘dumbing down’. In “Diary of a Provincial Lady”, which was one of their choices, a character in the book is annoyed at the choice of a book by the Society. Sales were significantly boosted by being chosen as Book of the Month by the Society and on the whole authors were pleased to be chosen. Sometimes the Society asked for slight changes to the length of the book (Virginia Woolf ‘s Flush was too short) or the language used or requested modifications to the illustrations, to make the book more suitable in the eyes of the Society. Nicola gave us some figures for sales of Margaret Irwin’s books e.g. None so Pretty ’31, 5,000, Royal Flush- 24,000, Still She Wished For Company – 2,150, Proud Servant ’34 -26,000. The Society provided an easy way of keeping up with new books.
The judges who chose the books were notable figures in the literary world e.g. Hugh Walpole, J.B. Priestly, George Gordon (university academic/BBC), Sylvia Lynd (poet, critic, society hostess), Clemence Dane (stage and Hollywood script writer), Edmund Blunden (WW1 poet, and pacifist), Cecil Day Lewis (thirties poet and Communist).
Authors chosen by the Society included Graham Greene, Rosalind Lehmann, and Mazo de la Roche. Books were dispatched with a wrapper band denoting “Chosen by the Book Society”.
The Society was run as a limited company with Publishers and Directors behind the organisation. The judges were paid. In the 60’s the Society diversified with the introduction of a History Group and a Children’s Group. By 1965, after the Public Libraries Act, new books became more available and much cheaper paperbacks began to appear. With the decline of Empire the overseas membership declined and new types of Book Club began to appear. E.g. Richard and Judy on TV, Oprah Book Club. The Society was no longer an economic proposition and by 1969 had ceased to exist.
Our thanks to Nicola for an engaging history of The Book Society which most of us had heard of but knew little about!
Lois Coulthart