Visit: The Archive of British Publishing and Printing

I’ve been researching my great aunt, C M Theobald, who in 1915 published a novel called ‘Lena Hale’ (George Allen & Unwin). I was delighted to discover that the Archive of British Publishing and Printing, housed at the University of Reading, contained around 20 letters between her and the publishing house and I was able to visit and see them. The correspondence traces the acceptance of her manuscript, discussions about marketing, and the subsequent banning of the book, which dealt with the taboo topic of divorce. In one letter, my great aunt tartly replies: ‘Does not the banning of a book sometimes make a very good advertisement?’ Which, even today, feels appropriately modern!