Charles Edward Mudie

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Charles Edward Mudie (October 18, 1818 - October 28, 1890), English publisher and founder of Mudie's Lending Library, was born at Chelsea, the son of a second-hand bookseller and newsagent.

In 1840 he established a stationery and book-selling business in Bloomsbury, London. He was the first publisher of James Russell Lowell's poems in England, and of Emerson's Man Thinking.

In 1842 he began to lend books. This department proved so successful that in 1852 he moved his "Select Library" to larger premises in New Oxford Street, London. In 1860 these premises were substantially enlarged, and branches of the business established, and in 1864 "Mudie's" was converted into a limited company.

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.