The British Book Society and the American Book-of-the-Month Club, 1929-49: joint choices and transatlantic connections

Wilson, N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4843-840X (2024) The British Book Society and the American Book-of-the-Month Club, 1929-49: joint choices and transatlantic connections. Book History, 27 (1). pp. 144-170. ISSN 1529-1499 doi: 10.1353/bh.2024.a929576

Abstract/Summary

This article explores the previously unknown transatlantic dimensions to the operations and cultures of reading of the American BOMC and the British Book Society between 1929-49. These two book sales clubs were major distributors of new books to wide audiences through the mid-twentieth century, disrupting previous patterns of consumption, with a significant impact on book sales and global distribution. Drawing on extensive archival research, this essay shows how the clubs were part of a broader transatlantic print culture of distribution and reading. Using archival evidence of exchanges among authors, judges, publishers, and texts - as well as new quantitative data on book choices - it demonstrates how the BOMC and the Book Society were part of a transatlantic publishing ecosystem that shaped interwar and mid-twentieth century reading patterns across the Atlantic and wider Anglophone world. As such, it is the first research to offer a comparative, transatlantic examination of two major book distributors that revolutionised how we read and think about books.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/112926
Identification Number/DOI	10.1353/bh.2024.a929576
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Literature and Languages > English Literature Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing (CBCP)
Publisher	Johns Hopkins University Press
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item