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Cover detail of The Little Red Book

Books of Influence

Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung

Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong)

1964-90


Commonly known as the ‘Little Red Book’, the original collection of Chairman Mao’s (1893-1976) quotations was first published in China in May 1964.

The State Library of Victoria's copy is the first English edition, which was issued by the Foreign Languages Press in Peking (now Beijing) in 1966. It is estimated that some five billion copies have subsequently been printed in over 500 different editions and 50 languages.

The work was compiled from Mao’s speeches and writings by Lin Biao, a military commander under Mao, as a means of inspiring soldiers of the Red Guard at the time of the Cultural Revolution.