The IVF began publishing Christian books in the 1930s (originally books were published under the name Inter-Varsity Fellowship - IVF). In 1936, Douglas Johnson, the general secretary of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship took on Ronald Inchley as the IVF's Publication Secretary. Ronald had freshly graduated from Birmingham University in 1936 and had no prior experience of publishing. He inherited a list of twenty titles, mostly booklets, which had already begun to appear. With Inchley's appointment came the opportunity to publish larger books such as T. C. Hammond's In Understanding Be Men.
