José Espasa Anguera (1840 in La Pobla de Cérvoles (Lleida) – July 4, 1911 in Barcelona) was a Spanish publisher.
Coming from a very humble rural family, and still a child, he had to move to Barcelona.
In 1860, he risked his modest savings to establish a small subscription center, the precursor of the Espasa-Calpe publishing house.
Espasa's dream of "a Great (Spanish) Encyclopedia" took shape in 1905, first with the publication of weekly instalments, and, from 1908 onwards, in volumes.
The magnitude of this enterprise eventually overwhelmed the publishing house and in 1925 they associated with Calpe; the head offices were moved to Madrid, and the direction of the company was given to José Ortega y Gasset.