posted on 08 Jan 2025

 

 

Finding George Orwell on The Letterpress Project Website

George Orwell has long been something of an obsession here at the Letterpress Project and the archive of Orwell-related pieces is now approaching twenty-five items – not always readily found. So below we have rounded up the links to all of these pieces so that interested readers can explore them more easily.

There are reviews of many of his books, reflections on the man himself and articles about how artists over the decades have responded to his work in their cover art. This digest of reviews can – and will – be added to as any new relevant pieces are written.

 

 

Alun Severn

January 2025

 

The potency of the old Penguin (07/15) – not entirely about Orwell but he features prominently

 

A Clergyman’s Daughter by George Orwell (01/16)

 

Animal Farm by George Orwell illustrated by Ralph Steadman (04/16)

 

Orwell’s Nose by John Sutherland (12/16) – Sutherland considers Orwell’s life and career through the prism of his sensitivity to smells – mostly bad smells

 

That George Orwell Look (04/17) – reflections on falling entirely under Orwell’s spell as a teenager, including his appearance and how he dressed

 

The Girl From The Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell by Hilary Spurling (01/18) – Sonia Brownell, better known as Sonia Orwell, was the writer’s second wife, marrying him just two or three months before his death. She became a fierce protector of the Orwell estate

 

George Orwell’s 1984 has been ‘pulped’ (05/18) – a look at how even the 1950s ‘pulp’ paperback market considered Orwell worth publishing

 

Coming Up For Air by George Orwell (07/18)

 

Classic Covers: Denis Piper’s artwork for George Orwell’s novels (11/18) – a piece examining the beautiful cover art produced by illustrator Denis Piper for Secker and Warburg’s late-1950s/early-60s uniform edition of George Orwell

 

Orwell’s Message : 1984 and the Present by George Woodcock (03/19)

 

Critical Essays by George Orwell (09/19)

 

The Ministry of Truth by Dorian Lynskey (12/19) – in a crowded landscape this piece considers whether there is really space for another book about how Orwell wrote his masterpiece

 

Rereading George Orwell’s Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters (06/20) – considers the long out-of-print Penguin four-volume edition and the academic industry in Orwell literature that has since grown up

 

Denis Piper Revisited (05/20) – a further look at illustrator Denis Piper's cover art in light of a revealing contribution from a reader whose father was a close friend of Piper

 

Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit (12/21)

 

Denis ‘Pip’ Piper : further reflections (02/22) – further consideration of illustrator Denis Piper's work in light of a marvellous contribution from his son, Nic Piper

 

One by David Karp (06/22) – a review of a dystopian novel that is far less well-known than Orwell’s masterpiece but which deserves a wider audience

 

George Orwell: A Life in Letters, edited by Peter Davison (02/23) – a revelatory life of Orwell told through his letters – and those of his first wife, Eileen O’Shaugnessy

 

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (05/23) – a review of what many consider ‘the other’ dystopian masterpiece that must be set alongside Nineteen Eighty-Four

 

Burmese Days by George Orwell (06/23)

 

The Socialist Patriot: George Orwell and War by Peter Stansky (08/23)

 

A Waiter in Paris: Adventures in the Dark Heart of the City by Edward Chisholm (09/23) – Orwell is Chisholm’s hero and this memoir invokes Orwell’s Down and out in Paris and London

 

The Times Authors Number 2: George Orwell (06/24) – examines a now long-forgotten but exemplary series of educational resource packs

 

George Orwell: Fugitive from the Camp of Victory by Richard Rees (02/24) – considers one of the earliest books about Orwell from a friend who knew him intimately