Poetry Book Society

The Poetry Book Society was founded in December 1953, under the auspices of the Arts Council of Great Britain, its purpose to "further the education of the people of this country by fostering and propagating the art of poetry and particularly by promoting knowledge, appreciation and enjoyment of the published work of contemporary poets." The first directors of the society included B. H. Blackwell, Joseph Compton, R. N. David, T. S. Eliot, Sir George Rostrevor Hamilton, and Erica Marx. Eric W. White became the society's first secretary. For further information about the society's beginnings, see Poetry Book Society: The First Twenty-Five Years, 1954-1978, by Eric W. White (London, 1979: Poetry Book Society).

Charles Osborne, assistant secretary of the society in the period represented in the Archives of the Poetry Book Society, was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1927. He published more than fifteen works on opera and several novelizations of Agatha Christie stage plays. His best known work is W. H. Auden: The Life of a Poet (Harcourt, 1979).

The Poetry Book Society celebrated its fiftieth birthday in 2003. It continues to publish a quarterly Bulletin which is mailed along with a selected poetry book to subscribers. It also sells poetry books, offers poetry education programs and materials for teachers, and awards the annual T. S. Eliot Prize for poetry. The society is based in London. Its web site is http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk (last accessed October 2005).