J. M. Dent

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Joseph Malaby Dent (30 August 1849 – 9 May 1926) was a British book publisher who produced the Everyman's Library series.

Dent was born in Darlington and after a short and unsuccessful stint as an apprentice printer he took up bookbinding. At the age of fifteen he gave a talk on James Boswell's Life of Johnson which would be the first book printed in the Everyman's Library. He began publishing high quality limited editions of classic literature under the Temple Library imprint.

He realised the potential for cheap, uniform editions of classic world literature and in 1906 began the Everyman's Library. Although not a new idea, what set Everyman's apart for earlier series was its scope; Dent planned for no less than one thousand volumes. He had not underestimated demand and was able to build a new factory and offices in Covent Garden with the profits. Despite having an impressive range of literature, Dent prevented classics of dubious morals, such as Moll Flanders, from being printed. The First World War slowed the production of books and Dent did not live to see the one thousand volume mark reached in 1956.

The publishing company, J. M. Dent and Sons Limited, was sold to Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 1988.^[1] It now forms an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group.