The Saturday Book
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since January 2006. |
THE SATURDAY BOOK, An annual miscellany, 34 vols. 1941-1975. It was edited from the start by Leonard Russell and from 1952 by John Hadfield. A final compilation The Best of the Saturday Book was published in 1981. The publisher throughout was Hutchinson.
The many distinguished writers include Edward Ardizzone, H. E. Bates, Nicolas Bentley, John Betjeman, Graham Greene, Laurie Lee, L. S. Lowry, Philip Larkin, John Masefield, H. J. Massingham, George Orwell, J.B. Priestley, L. T. C. Rolt, Siegfried Sassoon, Evelyn Waugh and P.G. Wodehouse.
The series was profusely illustrated with photographs, woodcuts and line drawings, many specially commissioned.
Artists included Edward Ardizzone, Roland Emmett, L. S. Lowry, Lawrence Scarfe
Photographers included Bill Brandt, Cecil Beaton, Douglas Glass, Edwin Smith
Wood engravers included Robert Gibbings, George Maclay, Agnes Miller Parker
Edwin Smith and Olive Cook wrote illustrated sections concerning collecting and ephemera.
George Orwell's essay 'Benefit of Clergy' in the volume for 1944 was suppressed on grounds of obscenity, though its title remains the table of contents. [1]
The Saturday Book provides a valuable literary and artistic commentary about life in Britain during the Second World War and in the ensuing decades. It covered a range of arts, including ballet and music. As well as essays many writers contributed verse.
