From Bowdler’s Shakespeare to Puffin’s edited Roald Dahl, publishing has often chosen to smooth away awkwardness rather than explain it. But sanitised texts, missing credits and silent rewrites do more than tidy the past — they erase evidence, authorship and the people who made books possible.

Before Amazon and algorithms, children’s book clubs brought curated, affordable books into homes, schools and workplaces. From Puffin Post to Red House catalogues, this is the story of a vanished reading culture.