The Minority Press
The Minority Press was a short-lived British publishing house founded in 1930 by Gordon Fraser (1911–1981) while he was an undergraduate student at St. John's College (Cambridge). Fraser was an undergraduate student of F. R. Leavis. The Minority Press was essentially the book publishing arm of the Leavis camp of literary criticism. The Press published a series of six pamphlets, several reprint editions with new introductions, and a few longer essays on literary topics. The first publication of the Press was Leavis' manifesto, Mass Civilization and Minority Culture (1930). Most of the other initial authors were fellow Cambridge students. Its last publication was in 1933. At least some of the titles were printed by W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd. Cambridge, England. Origin of the name The name of the press comes from Leavis' self-positioning as a literary critic upholding a minority – rather than a mass culture – stance; against an "anything goes" pluralism. Leavis wrote that The potentialities of human experience in any age are realised by only a tiny minority, and the important poet is important because he belongs to this (and has also, of course, the power of communication) ... Almost all of us live by routine,