Allen Lane
Sir Allen Lane CH (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market.[1][2]
For the U.S. railway station formerly known as Allen Lane, see Richard Allen Lane station. For those of a similar name, see Alan Lane (disambiguation).
Allen Lane
British
Founder of Penguin Books
3, including Clare Morpurgo
John Lane (uncle)
- Knighthood (1952)
- Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (1969)
- Albert Medal (1969)
In 1967 he started a hardback imprint under his own name, Allen Lane.
Early life and family[edit]
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 Letitia Lucy Orr, daughter of Sir Charles Orr, on 28 June 1941 and had three daughters: Clare, Christine, and Anna. He was knighted in 1952.
Legacy[edit]
In 2010, Penguin Random House Canada launched an imprint named for Allen Lane to publish prestige non-fiction by established authors.[8]
