Book review: ‘London Review of Books: an incomplete history’

As a long-term subscriber (and occasional letters-page contributor) to the wonderful London Review of Books (LRB), I was keen to get my hands on this coffee-table tome, published to mark the LRB’s 40th birthday in 2019.

The book gives a potted history of the magazine (they prefer the term ‘paper’) which began life as a pocket supplement to the New York Review of Books, but which rapidly evolved into an independent, left-leaning entity.

This ‘incomplete history’ is profusely illustrated with images of (often heavily annotated) documents taken from the LRB’s archive, and is a fascinating read for anyone who, like me, can’t imagine being without this wonderful magazine. Long may it flourish!