26th September 1968: the publication of the 1000th Pelican paperback
26th September marked 57 years since the publication of the 1000th Pelican paperback.
The book chosen was EP Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class. It retailed for 18 shillings (90p). The hardback had been published in 1963 and Thompson provided a new postscript for the paperback edition, noting some criticisms of the book and adding some further perspectives.
Such was the occasion that The Guardian published a special supplement for which Thompson wrote a piece (on William Blake) headed ‘Beast and Whore’, Blakean terms for Church and State.
In one sense those were indeed the days. The book remains in print and a number of its categories such as the moral economy provoke debate and new research still. It now costs rather more than 90p
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