The London Review of Books: An Incomplete History

TheLondon Review of Books has grown, over four decades, into Europe’s leading magazine of culture and ideas, but it began life – in the words of its founding editor, Karl Miller – as just "a small paper". This wonderful selection of previously unseen literary artifacts – both from archives and personal collections – will offer intimate insights into both the evolution of the journal and its relationships with our era’s most celebrated thinkers and writers.

From handwritten first drafts and (extensively) rewritten editorial spreads to reader complaints and iconic cover artwork – via the personal notebooks and correspondence in which publishing triumphs and disasters played out – this patchwork history brings a unique slice of Bloomsbury’s modern heritage to life. With new introductions by Mary-Kay Wilmers and editor-at-large Andrew O’Hagan – and other famous protagonists from the paper’s past and present – this is the perfect celebration of the LRB’s last forty years. Featuring legendary authors (such as Angela Carter, Bruce Chatwin, Seamus Heaney, Christopher Hitchens, Doris Lessing, Oliver Sacks, Edward Said, and Susan Sontag) alongside heroic letter-writers unlikely contributors (Tony Blair, believe it or not), this magnificent full-color hardback is a must-have for literature lovers everywhere.

Founded in 1979, and published twice a month, the London Review of Books provides a space for some of the world’s best writers to explore a wide variety of subjects in exhilarating detail – from art and politics to science and technology via history and philosophy, fiction and poetry. In the age of the long read, the LRB remains the pre-eminent exponent of the intellectual essay, admired around the world by over 75,000 subscribers for its fearlessness, its range and its elegance.