Dial Press
Encyclopedia
The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923
by Lincoln MacVeagh
.
Dial Press shared a building with The Dial
and Scofield Thayer
worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924.
Authors included Elizabeth Bowen
, W.R. Burnett and Glenway Wescott
, Frank Yerby
, James Baldwin
, Herbert Gold
, Thomas Berger, Vance Bourjaily
, and Norman Mailer
.
In 1963 Dell Publishing
Company acquired 60% of the Dial Press stock but the Press remained an independent subsidiary. It was jointly owned by Richard Baron
and Dell Publishing; E. L. Doctorow
was editor-in-chief. In 1969 the Dial Press became wholly owned by Dell Publishing Company. In 1976 Doubleday bought Dell Publishing and the children's division of Dial Press was sold to E. P. Dutton
. Dutton would be bought by New American Library
, which in turn became a part of the Penguin Group
, a division of Pearson PLC
. Doubleday dissolved Dial Press in 1985. The adult imprint was revived by Carole Baron the publisher of Dell at the time part of Bantan/Doubleday/Dell under the leadership of Susan Kamil. It went on to gain awards and bestellers. It was bought when BDD was sold to Random House.
1923 in literature
The year 1923 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey makes his first appearance in print....
by Lincoln MacVeagh
Lincoln MacVeagh
Lincoln MacVeagh was a distinguished United States soldier, diplomat, businessman, and archaeologist. He served a long career as the United States ambassador to several countries during difficult times.-MacVeagh family:...
.
Dial Press shared a building with The Dial
The Dial
The Dial was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. In the 1880s it was revived as a political magazine...
and Scofield Thayer
Scofield Thayer
Scofield Thayer was an American poet and publisher, best known for his art collection, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and as a publisher and editor of the literary magazine The Dial during the 1920s.-Life and career:...
worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924.
Authors included Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Irish novelist and short story writer.-Life:Elizabeth Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in Dublin, Ireland and was baptized in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street...
, W.R. Burnett and Glenway Wescott
Glenway Wescott
Glenway Wescott was a major American novelist during the 1920-1940 period and a figure in the American expatriate literary community in Paris during the 1920s. Wescott was gay. His relationship with longtime companion Monroe Wheeler lasted from 1919 until Wescott's death.-Biography:Wescott was...
, Frank Yerby
Frank Yerby
Frank Garvin Yerby was an African American historical novelist. He is best known as the first African American writer to become a millionaire from his pen, and to have a book purchased by a Hollywood studio for a film adaptation.-Early life:...
, James Baldwin
James Baldwin (writer)
James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.Baldwin's essays, for instance "Notes of a Native Son" , explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th century America,...
, Herbert Gold
Herbert Gold
-Early life:Gold was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Lakewood, a community he was later to memorialize in his first book, Birth of a Hero, published in 1951 by Viking Press. He moved to New York City at age 17 after several of his poems had been accepted by New York literary magazines...
, Thomas Berger, Vance Bourjaily
Vance Bourjaily
Vance Bourjaily was an American writer, novelist, playwright, journalist, and essayist.-Life:Bourjaily was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Monte Ferris Bourjaily, a Lebanese immigrant who was a journalist and later became editor of the United Features Syndicate, and Barbara Webb, an American-born...
, and Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
.
In 1963 Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing, an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte, Jr.During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines. Their line of humor magazines included 1000 Jokes, launched in...
Company acquired 60% of the Dial Press stock but the Press remained an independent subsidiary. It was jointly owned by Richard Baron
Richard Baron
Richard Baron is a philosopher living in London. He was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and at Selwyn College, Cambridge.His first book, Projects and Values, argues for a foundationalist virtue ethic, against the background of a structured approach to the cultural relativity of value-concepts...
and Dell Publishing; E. L. Doctorow
E. L. Doctorow
Edgar Lawrence Doctorow is an American author.- Biography :Edgar Lawrence Doctorow was born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of second-generation Americans of Russian Jewish descent...
was editor-in-chief. In 1969 the Dial Press became wholly owned by Dell Publishing Company. In 1976 Doubleday bought Dell Publishing and the children's division of Dial Press was sold to E. P. Dutton
E. P. Dutton
E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. In 1986, the company was acquired by Penguin Group and split into two imprints: Dutton Penguin and Dutton Children's Books.-History:Edward Payson Dutton founded...
. Dutton would be bought by New American Library
New American Library
New American Library is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948; it produced affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works, as well as popular, pulp, and "hard-boiled" fiction. Non-fiction, original, and hardcopy issues were also produced.Victor Weybright and Kurt...
, which in turn became a part of the Penguin Group
Penguin Group
The Penguin Group is a trade book publisher, the largest in the world , having overtaken Random House in 2009. The Penguin Group is the name of the incorporated division of parent Pearson PLC that oversees these publishing operations...
, a division of Pearson PLC
Pearson PLC
Pearson plc is a global media and education company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is both the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world, with consumer imprints including Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird...
. Doubleday dissolved Dial Press in 1985. The adult imprint was revived by Carole Baron the publisher of Dell at the time part of Bantan/Doubleday/Dell under the leadership of Susan Kamil. It went on to gain awards and bestellers. It was bought when BDD was sold to Random House.
External links
(Adult) (About the Dial Press)- Dial Press Records at Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Dial Press finding aid for chronological key events