Abstract
The National Home Reading Union was established in Great Britain in 1889 by John Brown Paton, a prominent Congregationalist minister, to improve popular reading through the formation of local reading circles. It aimed, through its prescriptive lists, ‘to guide readers of all ages in the choice of books’, ‘to unite them as members in a reading guild’ and ‘to group them where possible in circles for mutual help and interest’. Readers who were unable to find a local circle could join as individual members and follow the set courses of reading as they wished, although the Union’s preference was that readers should combine in circles whenever possible.