In a comprehensive study of a phase of the social and educational history of Great Britain, the author describes the development of formal adult education in its variety, and at the same time traces the influence of other less formal modes of instruction. Drawing from a wide range of sources he recounts in detail the various agencies of adult education public lectures, adult schools, mechanics' institutes, churches, working men's colleges, universities, extension courses, and the Workers' Educational Association, which have contributed to the development and perpetuation of adult education in Great Britain. The narrative extends from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century and embraces all these movements and institutions -- the pulpit, the press, public libraries, cultural societies, reformation, renaissance, puritanism, science, and radical opposition broadcasting. (PT)