| Activity | Joiner who worked on the interiors at the Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane. He attended the Working Men's College, London where he was a pupil of John Ruskin and D G Rosetti. He became Ruskin's assistant drawing master at the college in 1857 and worked as an engraver and publisher, his main work with the drawings and sketches of J M W Turner. Ruskin set Allen up as a publisher in the 1870's, he started out as a distributor and gradually took over the publication of all Ruskins books and works. In 1890 Allen opened his new premises in Chancery Lane and in 1894 he moved into larger premises in Charing Cross. After his death his firm went into receivership and in 1913 it was sold to Stanley Unwin leading to the formation of George Allen & Unwin. |