SPCK stands for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. It is a British organisation, very old — it goes back to the beginning of the 1700s — and what it mainly does is publish and sell Christian books: Bibles, prayer books, books that explain the Christian faith, and books used in churches and schools. It also runs bookshops.

You say it letter by letter: S-P-C-K. You do not try to pronounce it as a word.

This is not a word you need for conversation. It belongs to the world of British publishing and the Church of England, and where you will actually meet it is on the spine or title page of a book, printed as the publisher's name. So the useful thing to know is simply: when you see SPCK on a book, you now know it is a British Christian publisher, not the author and not a series title.

One caution about letters like these: the same four or five letters can stand for different organisations in different countries and fields. This entry is about the British Christian publisher.