Allen Lane
| Sir Allen Lane | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Allen Lane Williams 21 September 1902 Bristol, England, UK |
| Died | 7 July 1970 (aged 67) Northwood, Middlesex, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Publisher |
| Known for | Founder of Penguin Books |
| Awards | Albert Medal (1969) |
Sir Allen Lane (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with V.K. Krishna Menon and his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market.
Allen Lane Williams was born in Bristol to Camilla (née Lane) and Samuel Williams, and studied at Bristol Grammar School. In 1919 he joined the publishing company Bodley Head as an apprentice to his uncle and founder of the company John Lane. In the process, he and the rest of his family changed their surname to Lane to retain the childless John Lane's company as a family firm. Lane married Lettice Lucy Orr on 28 June 1941 and had three daughters: Clare, Christine, and Anna. He was knighted in 1962.
He rose quickly at Bodley Head becoming managing editor in 1925 following the death of his uncle. After conflict with the board of directors who were wary at first — for fear of being prosecuted — of publishing James Joyce's controversial book Ulysses, Lane, together with his brothers Richard and John, founded Penguin Books in 1935 as part of the Bodley Head.
Penguin Books became a separate company the following year. The legend goes that on a train journey back from visiting Agatha Christie in 1934, Lane found himself on an Exeter station platform with nothing available worth reading. He conceived of paperback editions of literature of proven quality which would be cheap enough to be sold from a vending machine; the first was set up outside Henderson's in Charing Cross Road and dubbed the "Penguincubator". Lane was also well aware of the Hamburg publisher Albatross Books and adopted many of its innovations.
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