Content deleted Content added
tone down promotional material |
m Dating maintenance tags: {{Cn}} |
||
Line 47:
From its earliest days, the SPCK commissioned tracts and pamphlets, making it the third-oldest publishing house in England. (Only the [[Oxford University Press|Oxford]] and [[Cambridge University Press]]es have existed longer.) Very early on, SPCK member [[George Sale]] translated ''The Koran'' into English and this was published in 1734 by the SPCK, much to the praise of [[Voltaire]].
Throughout the 18th century, SPCK was by far the largest producer of Christian literature in Britain.{{cn|date=October 2023}} The range of its output was considerable - from pamphlets aimed at specific groups such as farmers, prisoners, soldiers, seamen, servants and slave-owners, to more general works on subjects such as baptism, confirmation, Holy Communion, the Prayer Book, and private devotion. Increasingly, more substantial books were also published, both on Christian subjects and, from the 1830s, on general educational topics as well.
SPCK's early publications were distributed through a network of supporters who received books and tracts to sell or give away in their own localities. Large quantities of Christian literature were provided for the Navy, and the Society actively encouraged the formation of parish libraries, to help both clergy and laity. By the 19th century, members had organized local district committees, many of which established small book depots - which at one time numbered over four hundred. These were overseen by central committees such as the Committee of General Literature and Education. In 1899, the addresses of their "depositories" in London were given as Northumberland Avenue, W.C.; Charing Cross, W.C. and 43 Queen Victoria Street, E.C..<ref>"The Dawn of Day", 256th edition</ref> Six years later, in edition 331, the depository was closed at Charing Cross, but a new one added at 129, North Street in Brighton.
Line 55:
[[Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone]], Westminster, London is a former Anglican church, built in 1828 by Sir [[John Soane]]. By the 1930s, it had fallen into disuse and in 1936 was used by the newly founded Penguin Books company to store books. A children's slide was used to deliver books from the street into the large crypt. In 1937, Penguin moved out to [[Harmondsworth]], and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge moved in. It was their headquarters until 2004, when it moved to [[Diocese of London|London Diocesan House]] in Causton Street, Pimlico. The bookshop moved to Tufton Street, Westminster, in 2003.
On 1 November 2006, St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (SSG) took over the bookshops but continued to trade under the SPCK name, under licence from SPCK. That licence was withdrawn in October 2007. However, some shops continued trading as SPCK Bookshops without licence until the SSG operation was closed down in 2009.{{cn|date=October 2023}}
=== SPCK's former book series ===
| |||