The initial editorial board included:[1] The first six books offered were:[1] Possibly the first advert for the club, in The Times, offered Seven Pillars of Wisdom in two volumes for three shillings and six pence (3/6) per volume, bound in buckram and with a gilt stamped leather title label on the spine.
The heyday of the club was probably in the 1950s when membership had grown to 200,000 from an initial 2,000 and reducing costs enabled the reintroduction of the signature buckram bindings for which the club was known.
The club boasted in its advertising that it was the largest in the British Commonwealth.
Smith and Doubleday and renamed Book Club Associates which traded using a number of different club names.
[3] The Reprint Society was described at the time by its Managing Director, Tony Barrett, as being a company serving the "broad brow" reader rather than the "high brow" reached by The Readers Union or the middle or lower brow reached by other clubs.