Charles Knight (15 March 1791 – 9 March 1873) was an English publisher, editor and author. He published and contributed to works such as ''

The Penny Magazine ''The Penny Magazine'' was an illustrated British magazine aimed at the working class, published every Saturday from 31 March 1832 to 31 October 1845. Charles Knight created it for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in response to ...

'', '' The Penny Cyclopaedia'', and ''

The English Cyclopaedia The ''English Cyclopaedia: A new dictionary of universal knowledge'' (London, 1854–1862, 4to, 23 vols., 12,117 pages; supplements, 1869–1873, 4 vols., 2858 pages), was published by Charles Knight, based on the ''Penny Cyclopaedia'', of which ...

'', and established the ''

Local Government Chronicle The ''Local Government Chronicle'' (''LGC'') is a British weekly magazine for local government officers, and is published by Metropolis. The magazine was launched in 1855 by bookseller and publisher Charles Knight . It was then published by E ...

''.

Early life

The son of a bookseller and printer at

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

, he was apprenticed to his father. On completion of his indentures he took up journalism and had an interest in several newspaper speculations, including the '' Windsor, Slough and Eton Express''. In 1823, in conjunction with friends he had made as publisher (1820–1821) of ''The Etonian'', he started ''Knight's Quarterly Magazine'', to which Winthrop Mackworth Praed, Derwent Coleridge and

Thomas Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 1 ...

contributed. It lasted for only six issues, but it made Knight's name as publisher and author, beginning a career which lasted over forty years. The periodical included an 1824 review of ''Frankenstein'' in which Percy Bysshe Shelley was attributed as the author in a comparison with his wife's second novel '' Valperga''. One of his early publications was the diary of the naval chaplain Henry Teonge (c. 1620–1690). From 1826 to 1827, he published the second series of Alaric Alexander Watts' monthly magazine '' The Literary Magnet''.

Editor

In 1827 Knight was forced to give up publishing, and became the superintendent of the publications of the

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) was founded in London in 1826, mainly at the instigation of Whig MP Henry Brougham, with the object of publishing information to people who were unable to obtain formal teaching or who pr ...

, for which he projected and edited '' The British Almanack and Companion'', begun in 1828. In 1829 he resumed business on his own account with the publication of '' The Library of Entertaining Knowledge'', writing several volumes of the series himself. In 1832 and 1833 he started ''

'' (1832-1845) and '' The Penny Cyclopaedia''. Both sold well, the ''Penny Magazine'' with a circulation of 200,000 by the end of its first year. ''The Penny Cyclopaedia'', as a result of the heavy

excise file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...

duty on paper, was only completed in 1844 at a financial loss of £40,000. He edited and published ''London'' (1841) in three volumes, a heavily illustrated history of the city. Besides many illustrated editions of standard works, including in 1842 an edition of the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

entitled ''The Pictorial Shakspere'', which had appeared in parts (1838–1841), Knight published a variety of illustrated works, such as ''Old England and The Land we Live in'' and ''The Pictorial Gallery of Arts – Useful Arts'', the latter based on the

Great Exhibition of 1851 The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...

. He also undertook the series known as ''Knight's Weekly Volume for All Readers'' (sometimes referred to as ''Knight's Weekly Volumes''), himself contributing the first volume, a biography of William Caxton (1844), as well as one on Sir Thomas Gresham (1845). Many famous books,

Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (; 12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist often seen as the first female sociologist, focusing on race relations within much of her published material.Michael R. Hill (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretic ...

's ''Tales'',

Anna Brownell Jameson Anna Brownell Jameson (17 May 179417 March 1860) was an Anglo-Irish art historian. Born in Ireland, she migrated to England at the age of four, becoming a well-known British writer and contributor to nineteenth-century thought on a range of sub ...

's ''Early Italian Painters'' and

G. H. Lewes George Henry Lewes (; 18 April 1817 – 30 November 1878) was an English philosopher and critic of literature and theatre. He was also an amateur physiologist. American feminist Margaret Fuller called Lewes a "witty, French, flippant sort of m ...

's ''Biographical History of Philosophy'', appeared for the first time in this series. His zeal for popular instruction saw him publish ''The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge'' (1847-1851) in 12 volumes, and, ''The English Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Useful Knowledge'' (1854-1862) in 22 volumes, with a 4 volume supplement. The latter work essentially a revision of ''The Penny Cyclopaedia''. Knight also launched the ''

'' in 1855, and at about the same time he began his ''Popular History of England'' (8 vols., 1856–1862).

Author

In addition to being the editor and author of ''Penny Magazine'' and ''Penny Cyclopedia'', and other popular works, Knight wrote ''The Results of Machinery'' (1831) and ''Knowledge is Power'', which was published in 1855. ''A Popular History of England'' over eight volumes appeared in 1856. In 1864 he withdrew from the business of publishing, but he continued to write nearly to the close of his long life, authoring ''The Shadows of the Old Booksellers'' (1865), an autobiography under the title ''Passages of a Working Life during Half a Century'' (2 vols., 1864–1865), and an historical novel, ''Begg'd at Court'' (1867).

Inventor

In 1838 Knight took out a patent for, "improvements in the process and in the apparatus used in the production of coloured impressions on paper, vellum, parchment and pasteboard by surface printing."

Legacy

Charles Knight died at

Addlestone Addlestone ( or ) is a town in Surrey, England. It is located approximately southwest of London. The town is the administrative centre of the Runnymede (borough), Borough of Runnymede, of which it is the largest settlement. History The town is ...

, Surrey on 9 March 1873. A gateway was erected in his memory at the cemetery adjacent to Bachelors Acre in Windsor, where he was buried. He is considered to be the first person to propose the use of stamped

newspaper wrapper In philately a wrapper is a form of postal stationery which pays the cost of the delivery of a newspaper or a periodical. The wrapper is a sheet of paper, large enough to wrap around a folded or rolled newspaper and with an imprinted stamp to pay ...

s in 1834, thus is attributed as their inventor.Dagnall, H, ''Postal Stationery Wrappers'', 1993, p42 His many reference books intended for a general audience mark him out as a pioneer in

self-improvement Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...

Works

* ''The Old Printer and the Modern Press'' (1854) * ''The Popular History of England'' (1856) * ''Knowledge is Power, A View of the Productive Forces of Modern Society and the Results of Labor, Capital and Skill.'' (1859)

References

Sources

* * Alice Ada Clowes
''Charles Knight, a Sketch''
(1892); * Francis Espinasse, in ''

The Critic ''The Critic'' was an American primetime adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as writers a ...

'' (May 1860).

External links

Windsor People series: Charles Knight
– Biography on ''The Royal Windsor Web Site'' * * * *
''Central America. II. Including Texas, California, and the northern states of Mexico.''
�
Portal to Texas History
1842 map published by Charles Knight (

)
Engravings from Charles Knight's books
– FromOldBooks.org: with some text, includes ''Old England: A Pictorial Museum'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Charles 1791 births 1873 deaths English book editors English male journalists English encyclopedists