This innovative study investigates the emergence and impact of the lower middle class on British print culture through the figure of the office clerk. This interdisciplinary work offers important insights into a previously neglected area of social and book history, and explores key works by George Gissing, Forster and JB Priestley.

'A revealing, often poignant introduction to a layer of society that literature has largely ignored.' - John Carey, Emeritus Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford

'...this is a valuable study, and Wild's work has implications that extend beyond the depiction and reading habits of the clerk.' - Victoria Stewart, Literature and History

'[A] herculean program of research that will serve as the bedrock for any future studies in this area... the research is not only an impressive achievement but a pioneering one.' - Lawrence Rainey, Modernism/Modernity