Rationalist Association

The Rationalist Association was a charity in the United Kingdom which published New Humanist magazine between 1885 and 2025. Since 2025, the Rationalist Press has been the publishing imprint of Humanists UK.

The original Rationalist Press Association (RPA) was founded in 1885 by a group of freethinkers who were unhappy with the increasingly political and decreasingly intellectual tenor of the British secularist movement, which made its name publishing cheap reprints of classic literature – such as works by Charles Darwin and John Stuart Mill – through its Thinker's Library series, along with literature that was deemed too anti-religious to be handled by mainstream publishers and booksellers.

In 2002, the RPA became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Rationalist Association, a charity established to continue its work. In 2025, the Rationalist Association merged with Humanists UK, which took over ownership of the RPA and publication of New Humanist. As the Rationalist Press, the original 1885 RPA became the publishing imprint of Humanists UK.