The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, caricatured as the ‘Steam Intellect Society’ in Thomas Love Peacock’s comic novel ‘Crotchet Castle’ (1831), was founded in 1826 by Henry Brougham and a group of influential Whig and radical friends. Many of the group were involved in establishing UCL at the same time, among them James Mill, Zachary Macaulay, Lord John Russell and George Birkbeck. The Society exploited contemporary advances in printing technology and distribution to publish cheap, entertaining, informative works for the masses. How successful was it in its aims? What further...