The Bedside Guardian Set 37 Books Manchester 37 Volumes Rare.

Volumes 2 to 36, 40

Alk in good shape with dust covers

During the 62 year period of the Bedside anthologies the Guardian has undergone enormous change. The Manchester Guardian changed its name to the Guardian in 1959. The move from Manchester to London began in 1961. Pagination of the paper has increased, additional sections have developed, magazines have been added and new designs introduced. The website was launched in 1995 and there are now offices in USA and Australia producing content for an online audience of over 90 million readers.

The first end of year anthology in 1952 was originally designed for the Christmas market. The first editor, Ivor Brown, explained: “Good readers are natural addicts of good writing.” Brown, literary editor of the Manchester Guardian, was editor of the first four Bedside Reads and wrote the foreword for the first eight. In the foreword to the first Bedside he opined: “The task of selecting from a year’s issues of the Manchester Guardian has been agreeable but difficult; there was so much material with equal claim.” This problem has faced the editor of all 62 editions. Brown had had to choose from a year when “A beloved King died, a young Queen took his place; the Labour Government fell; Mr Churchill returned to power and faced his first peace-time Premiership.”

One of the features of the Bedsides has been to invite a well-known reader to write a foreword, including William Golding, Dennis Potter, Shirley Williams, Helena Kennedy, Shami Chakrabarti and Steve Coogan. Green MP Caroline Lucas reviewed the 2009 edition and the former Labour MP and cabinet minister, Tony Benn, reviewed the 2010 edition.

During the life-time of the anthologies readers have been invited to contribute their suggestions to the Bedside Reads. In 2003, Luke Dodd asked readers to submit their favourite articles of the year and their suggestions were printed in an article called ‘You, the editor’. In 2011 a blog post in the Guardian asked readers for their stand-out story.

Alistair Cooke was the chief correspondent in the US of the Guardian from 1948-72. His articles appeared in the Bedside Reads for over 20 years and some years up to 11 articles were featured in one edition. In the first anthology Ivor Brown comments: “Cooke’s wide range from politics to playground, his fluent narrative, his easy evocation of atmosphere, and his flick of wit reveal a journalistic flair that I think of as typically Manchester Guardian.”

A very rare set of books

See pics for details

Will be carefully packed