J. M. Dent

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

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.

[3] In A Sinking Island, Hugh Kenner wrote: "Destiny beckoned J. M. Dent toward the kingdom of books, and without ever learning to spell he became an influential bookman.

His paroxysms were famous; a Swedish specialist thought of prescribing a pail of cold water for Dent to plunge his head into.

The First World War slowed the production of books and Dent did not live to see the one thousand volume mark reached in 1956.

In The Sketch , 16 March 1898
Title page of a book published by J. M. Dent & Sons