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Today we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the publication of Animal Farm by George Orwell – a book with a fascinating history. /1
Because of fears that the book might upset the delicate alliance between the Soviet Union and Britain, Animal Farm was rejected by four publishers before finally being accepted by @JonathanCape /2
Cape subsequently declined to publish Animal Farm after being warned off by an ‘important official’ at the Ministry of Information, now thought to be Peter Smollett who was subsequently unmasked as a Soviet Agent. /3
It took until this day in 1945 for Animal Farm to eventually be published by Secker & Warburg. Reviews were mixed with the @Guardian calling it ‘a delightfully humorous and caustic satire on the rule of the many by the few’ /4
‘It puzzled and saddened me. It seemed on the whole dull’ wrote George Soule in the @NewRepublic. Others have warned against the book too, notably schools in the US who have attempted to ban the book due to its ‘political theories’ and references to ‘masses revolting’ /5
Animal Farm though has undoubtedly stood the test of time and today we are excited to share some new editions of this and Orwell’s other great novels, featuring the paintings of Francis Bacon /6
'Beauty is meaningless until it is shared'
― George Orwell, Burmese Days
― George Orwell, Burmese Days
'It is a mysterious thing, the loss of faith – as mysterious as faith itself'
– George Orwell, A Clergyman's Daughter
– George Orwell, A Clergyman's Daughter
'He drove his mind into the abyss where poetry is written'
― George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying
― George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying
'Perhaps a man really dies when his brain stops, when he loses the power to take in a new idea'
― George Orwell, Coming Up for Air
― George Orwell, Coming Up for Air
'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others'
― George Orwell, Animal Farm
― George Orwell, Animal Farm
'Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past'
― George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
― George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
