While working on articles about Stella Gibbons's romance My American and the life of the novelist May Sinclair recently, I came across some references to Everyman's Library.
The first was in J. B. Priestley's introduction to his novel Angel Pavement, which I suggested was the inspiration for My American; the second was in some online information about May Sinclair: she wrote introductions for the Everyman editions of the Brontë sisters' works.
J. B. Priestley is yet another voracious reader who later became a writer. This is an extract from his introduction to the Everyman's Library edition of his novel Angel Pavement:
“It was when I was in my middle teens that I began buying books...I had very little money indeed, and the problem was, how to buy books out of it? I managed this chiefly by economising on my lunches. In a shop in the covered market you could buy a bag of stale buns for tuppence...Out of what I saved, I bought books, and most of these books belonged to the old shilling Everyman series. I have some of them, chiefly the green volumes of the poets, to this day.
No bits of silver ever bought more enduring enchantment. I wish it were possible to go back to that youth from the office, as he stands looking at the Everyman volumes in Mr. Power's bookstall in the Bradford market, to whisper to him that the day will come when he will write a novel that will find its way into Everyman’s Library...”
One shilling was the official price, so one brand-new volume cost the equivalent of six bags of stale buns!
The Everyman's Library edition of Angel Pavement:
May Sinclair too was an avid reader who became a writer. Not only did she write introductions to the Brontë sisters' novels and an introduction to Mrs Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Brontë for the Everyman editions, she was also involved with the development of the series.
I had a few of these beautiful Everyman books of my own when young. I remember very clearly how much I enjoyed looking at the ornate endpapers. I particularly liked the quotations in the early editions
"Everyman, I will go with thee, and be thy guide, In thy most need to go by thy side”
“A tale which holdeth children from play and old men from the chimney corner”
Being reminded of the Everyman books made me feel so nostalgic that I decided to find out more about them.
Everyman's Library was founded in 1906 with the intention of creating a 1,000-volume library of world literature in durable hardbacks that most people could afford. In addition to the low prices, the attractive designs and typefaces made the Everyman books worth buying for a self-educator's private library as opposed to borrowing the classics from the public library.
The history of Everyman's Library and something about the founder Joseph Malabt Dent can be found here:
http://www.everymanslibrary.co.uk/history.aspx
The publisher J. M. Dent was a benefactor similar to Andrew Carnegie in that he had a mission to make knowledge accessible to all, which would help people to rise in the world by their own efforts as he had done. Their influence on generations of readers and writers is immeasurable.
This recent impression of J. M. Dent was painted by Alfred Reginald Thomson:
