Sixty-five years ago, when post-war austerity was at its grimmest, Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin Books, whose aim as a publisher was to make the best available to the many at a price they could afford, launched Penguin Classics, which embodied his ideal. Its first title – a new translation of Homer’s Odyssey – went on to sell over three million copies, confirming Lane’s reputation for combining the mercenary and the missionary.