The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923 by
Lincoln MacVeagh.
The 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
Glenway Wescott (April 11, 1901 – February 22, 1987) was an American poet, novelist and essayist. A figure of the American expatriate literary community in Paris during the 1920s, Wescott was openly gay.Eric Haralson, ''Henry James and Queer Mo ...
,
Frank Yerby
Frank Garvin Yerby ( – ) was an American writer, best known for his 1946 historical novel ''The Foxes of Harrow''.
Early life
Yerby was born in Augusta, Georgia, on September 5, 1916, the second of four children of Rufus Garvin Yerby (1886– ...
,
James Baldwin
James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; de ...
,
Roy Campbell,
Susan Berman
Susan Jane Berman (May 18, 1945 – December 23, 2000) was an American journalist and author. The daughter of mobster David Berman, she wrote about her late-in-life realization of her father's role in organized crime.
In 2000, Berman was f ...
,
Herbert Gold
Herbert Gold (born March 9, 1924) is an American novelist.
Early life
Gold was born on March 9, 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, in to a Russian Jewish family. His parents were Samuel S. and Frieda (Frankel) Gold. His father ran a fruit store and later a ...
,
Thomas Berger,
Vance Bourjaily
Vance Nye Bourjaily (September 17, 1922 – August 31, 2010) was an American novelist, playwright, journalist, creative writing teacher, and essayist.T. Rees Shapirofrom ''The Washington Post'', September 4, 2010.
Life
Bourjaily was born in Clev ...
,
Judith Rossner
Judith Rossner (March 31, 1935 – August 9, 2005) was an American novelist, best known for her acclaimed best sellers '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1975) and ''August'' (1983).
Life and career, 1935–1973
Born in New York City, on March 31, 1 ...
, and
Norman Mailer
Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...
.
In 1963,
Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...
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 (Dial Books for Young Readers) was sold to
E. P. Dutton
E. P. Dutton was an American Publishing, book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group.
Creator
Edward Payson Dutton ( ...
. The children's division of Dial Press published books under the Pied Piper imprint. Dutton would be bought by
New American Library, which in turn became a part of the
Penguin Group
Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initial ...
, a division of
Pearson PLC
Pearson plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England.
It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s.J. A. Spende ...
. When the Penguin Group obtained the rights to children's books published by the Dial Press, some were published in paperback under the imprint Puffin Pied Piper (because Puffin has been the longtime paperback imprint for the Penguin Group). Doubleday dissolved Dial Press in 1985. The adult imprint was revived by Carole Baron the publisher of Dell at the time part of Bantam/Doubleday/Dell under the leadership of
Susan Kamil
Susan Laurie Kamil (September 16, 1949 – September 8, 2019) was the publisher (as of 2018) as well as editor-in-chief of the Random House Publishing Group.
Career
Susan Kamil was born in Manhattan, where she attended the High School of Music & ...
. It went on to gain awards and bestsellers. It was bought when BDD was sold to
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
. Penguin and Random House merged in 2013, forming
Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House.
On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...
, with the main division part of Random House and the Young Readers division part of Penguin.
Notable books published by The Dial Press
*''
An American Dream'',
Norman Mailer
Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...
*''
Easy Street
Easy Street may refer to:
Film
* ''Easy Street'' (1917 film), a Charlie Chaplin comedy
* Easy Street (1930 film), by Oscar Micheaux, US
* ''Easy Street'' (TV series), 1986–87 US sitcom
Music
*Easy Street (band), UK, 1970s
**''Easy Street'', ...
'',
Susan Berman
Susan Jane Berman (May 18, 1945 – December 23, 2000) was an American journalist and author. The daughter of mobster David Berman, she wrote about her late-in-life realization of her father's role in organized crime.
In 2000, Berman was f ...
*''
The Detective'',
Roderick Thorp
*''
The Ecstasy Business'',
Richard Condon
Richard Thomas Condon (March 18, 1915 – April 9, 1996) was an American political novelist. Though his works were satire, they were generally transformed into thrillers or semi-thrillers in other media, such as cinema. All 26 books were writte ...
*''
The Good Thief'',
Hannah Tinti
Hannah Tinti (born 1973) is an American writer and the co-founder of ''One Story'' magazine. She received the PEN/Nora Magid Award for Magazine Editing in 2009 for ''One Story'', as well as the Alex Awards.
Personal life
Tinti was born in 1973 ...
*''
I've Got Your Number'',
Sophie Kinsella
Madeleine Sophie Wickham, known by her pen name Sophie Kinsella, is an English author. The first two novels in her best-selling Shopaholic series, ''The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic'' and ''Shopaholic Abroad'', were adapted into the film ...
*''
Mile High
''Mile High'' is a British television drama based on the lives of the cabin crew members of Fresh!, a budget airline based in London. The name of the show is a reference to the Mile High Club. The show was broadcast on Sky1 from 2003 to 2005 ...
'',
Richard Condon
Richard Thomas Condon (March 18, 1915 – April 9, 1996) was an American political novelist. Though his works were satire, they were generally transformed into thrillers or semi-thrillers in other media, such as cinema. All 26 books were writte ...
*''Nine Months in the Life of an Old Maid'',
Judith Rossner
Judith Rossner (March 31, 1935 – August 9, 2005) was an American novelist, best known for her acclaimed best sellers '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1975) and ''August'' (1983).
Life and career, 1935–1973
Born in New York City, on March 31, 1 ...
*''
The Report from Iron Mountain''
*''
The Fire Next Time
''The Fire Next Time'' is a 1963 non-fiction book by James Baldwin, containing two essays: "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" and "Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region of My Mind".
Th ...
'',
James Baldwin
James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; de ...
*''
Stardance
''Stardance'' is a science fiction novel by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson, published by Dial Press in 1979 as part of its Quantum science fiction line. The novel's opening segment originally appeared in ''Analog (magazine), Analog'' in 1977 ...
'',
Spider Robinson
Spider Robinson (born November 24, 1948) is an American-born Canadian list of science fiction authors, science fiction author. He has won a number of awards for his hard science fiction and humorous stories, including the Hugo Award 1977 and 198 ...
and
Jeanne Robinson
Jeanne Robinson (March 30, 1948 – May 30, 2010) was an American-born Canadian choreographer who co-wrote three science fiction novels, ''The Stardance Saga'', with her husband Spider Robinson. ''Stardance'' won the Hugo Award for Best Novella ...
*''
The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí'',
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
*''
Die Nigger Die!
''Die Nigger Die!'' is a 1969 political autobiography by the American political activist H. Rap Brown (now known as Jamil Abdullah al-Amin). The book was first released in the United States in 1969 (by Dial Press) and then in the United Kingdom in ...
'',
H. Rap Brown
Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (born Hubert Gerold Brown; October 4, 1943), formerly known as H. Rap Brown, is a civil rights activist, black separatist, and convicted murderer who was the fifth chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ...
*''
Ethics: Origin and Development'',
Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...
*''
Secrets at Sea'',
Richard Peck, illustrated by
Kelly Murphy
Kelly Murphy is an American author, illustrator and educator. She is based in Providence, Rhode Island.
Early life
Murphy was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in southeastern Massachusetts. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design ...
*''
The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail
''The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail'' is a 2013 children's novel written by Richard Peck and illustrated Kelly Murphy. The book is set in the same universe as ''Secrets at Sea''. The novel is suitable as reading for grades four through s ...
'',
Richard Peck, illustrated by
Kelly Murphy
Kelly Murphy is an American author, illustrator and educator. She is based in Providence, Rhode Island.
Early life
Murphy was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in southeastern Massachusetts. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design ...
*''
Another Country'', James Baldwin
*''
Little Big Man'',
Thomas Berger
*''Confessions of a Spent Youth'',
Vance Bourjaily
Vance Nye Bourjaily (September 17, 1922 – August 31, 2010) was an American novelist, playwright, journalist, creative writing teacher, and essayist.T. Rees Shapirofrom ''The Washington Post'', September 4, 2010.
Life
Bourjaily was born in Clev ...
*''
The Giant's House
''The Giant's House'' is the debut novel of Elizabeth McCracken, first published in 1996. The novel was short-listed for the 1996 National Book Award for Fiction. The novel explores how Peggy Cort, a librarian and "old maid", falls in love with on ...
'',
Elizabeth McCracken
*''It was gonna be like Paris'', Emily Listfield
* ''
The War That Saved My Life
''The War That Saved My Life'', by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, is a 2015 children’s historical novel published by Dial Books for Young Readers. In 2016, it was a Newbery Honor Book and was named to the Bank Street Children's Book Committee ...
'',
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (born June 24, 1967) is an American children's and young adult book author. In 2016, her children's book ''The War That Saved My Life'' received the Newbery Honor Award and was named to the Bank Street Children's Book ...
* ''The Short Novels of Dostoevsky'' (with introduction by
Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...
),
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
, translated by
Constance Garnett
Constance Clara Garnett (; 19 December 1861 – 17 December 1946) was an English translator of nineteenth-century Russian literature. She was the first English translator to render numerous volumes of Anton Chekhov's work into English and the ...
* ''The Mysterious Tale of Gentle Jack and Lord Bumblebee
George Sand (writer)
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, be ...
, illustrated by
Gennady Spirin
Gennady Spirin (born 25 December 1948) is a Russian painter and children's book illustrator. A graduate of the Surikov School of Fine Art in Moscow and the Moscow Stroganov Institute of Art, he is noted for his unique style of watercolor illust ...
, translated by
Gela Jacobson
Gela (Sicilian and ; grc, Γέλα) is a city and (municipality) in the Autonomous Region of Sicily, Italy; in terms of area and population, it is the largest municipality on the southern coast of Sicily. Gela is part of the Province of Cal ...
Book series
* The Bourbon Classics
* The Dial Detective Library
* The Dial Standard Library
* Fireside Library
* The Golden Dragon Library
* Library of Living Classics
Library of Living Classics
owu.edu. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
* Permanent Library
* The Rogue's Library
See also
*Atha Tehon
Atha Tehon Thiras (January 20, 1926 – February 15, 2012),Emily Kulkus. (2012 ''The Post-Standard''. professionally credited as Atha Tehon, was the daughter and second child of Dr. Leo Roy Tehon and Mrs. Leo Tehon, of Illinois.
Tehon was a stud ...
, Art Director of Dial Books for Young Readers
Notes
External links
*
* Dial Press Records. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Dial Press finding aid
for chronological key events
{{Authority control
Book publishing companies based in New York (state)
Publishing companies established in 1923
Random House
Dial Press books