Allen Lane
Sir Allen Lane (actually Allen Williams ; born September 21, 1902 in Bristol , Gloucestershire , † July 7, 1970 in Northwood , Middlesex ) was one of the most important British publishers of the 20th century, pioneer of paperbacks in England and founder of Penguin publishing ( Penguin Books, Ltd. ).
In 1935 he first published cheap reprints by contemporary authors ( Ernest Hemingway , Eric Linklater and Agatha Christie ) for 6 pence, the price of a pack of cigarettes, and later also other series, including a Shakespeare edition (1937), the successful children's book series Puffin Story Books (1941) and Homer's Odyssey (1946 as the first volume of the Penguin Classics ). The most successful work was the 1960 unabridged edition of Lady Chatterley's lover by DH Lawrence , which - after a sensational process - sold over 3.5 million copies, 2 million of them within six weeks.
Lane was knighted in 1952 and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1964 . He withdrew from the publishing house in 1969 after the 3,000th Penguin title appeared ( Ulysses by James Joyce ).
literature
- WE Williams: Allen Lane: A Personal Portrait - London: The Bodley Head, 1973. - ISBN 0370104749
- Jack E. Morpurgo: Allen Lane: King Penguin . - London: Hutchison, 1979. - ISBN 0091396905 (The author was Lane's son-in-law)
- Steve Hare: Penguin Portrait: Allen Lane and the Penguin Editors 1935–1970 - London: Penguin, 1995 - ISBN 0140238522
- Jeremy Lewis: Penguin Special: The Life and Times of Allen Lane . - London: Viking, 2005. - ISBN 0670914851
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lane, Allen |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Allen Lane Williams |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British publisher; Pioneer of the paperback in England |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 21, 1902 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bristol |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 7, 1970 |
| Place of death | London Borough of Hillingdon |