Shop front of the Strickland Press, George Street, c 1945. There were two entrances, one to the print shop and office, the other to the bookshop. The Word, prominently advertised, was a weekly newspaper edited and published by Guy Aldred, an anarchist and libertarian socialist, who owned the Strickland Press.
The Strickland Press was set up in 1939 with the help of a bequest from Sir Walter Strickland, an old friend of Aldred from his early days in London. Most of the money was lost in a complex legal battle, but the proceeds were sufficient to purchase the premises and printing machinery. Large numbers of left-wing and pacifist political pamphlets, many written by Aldred himself, were printed there during the war years.
With the help of his faithful supporters, Jenny Patrick, Ethel MacDonald and John Caldwell, Aldred kept the Strickland Press going until his death in 1963. The George Street premises had to be vacated in 1962, when they were demolished to make way for expansion of the Royal College of Science and Technology, soon to be the University of Strathclyde.
Reference: P7/1/12
Reproduced with the permission of Strathclyde University Archives
Keywords:
anarchists, booksellers, bookshops, editors, libertarian socialists, newspapers, pacifism, pacifists, political activists, political pamphlets, printers, printing, publishers, publishing, Royal College of Science and Technology, socialism, socialists, Strickland Press, University of Strathclyde, Word