Everyman's Library

Joseph Malaby Dent founded the publishing firm of J.M. Dent and Company in 1888. (The firm became J.M. Dent & Sons in 1909). In 1904, Dent began to plan Everyman’s Library, a series of one thousand classics to be published in an attractive format and sold at affordable prices, i.e., one shilling a volume. To meet the demand of production, Dent built the Temple Press. The publication of the Everyman Library began in 1906 and 152 titles were issued by the end of the first year. The binding styles of the Everyman’s Library varied considerably over the years, going through changes both in design and in size. Scarcity of materials during two world wars caused some of these changes, as also the efforts of Dent to adhere to one of the primary objects of the series, to keep the price down so that it was affordable by “Everyman.”