Charles Elkin Mathews (1851 – 10 November 1921) was a British

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and

bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of libra ...

who played an important role in the literary life of London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mathews was born in Gravesend, and learned his trade in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Bath. In 1884 he opened his own shop in Exeter, where he published his first books in collaboration with other local booksellers. In 1887 he returned to London, and John Lane and he went into partnership and founded

The Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...

, which first operated as an antiquarian bookshop and later as a publisher. In 1894 they published '' The Yellow Book'' and from 1893 they published the Keynotes book series. In 1892 he published a volume of verse from the Rhymers' Club titled ''The Book of the Rhymers' Club'' and in 1894 a follow-up volume ''The Second Book of the Rhymers' Club'' was published by him and John Lane. In 1894 Mathews left The Bodley Head partnership. He set up on his own as Elkin Mathews Ltd. and published works by his neighbour W. B. Yeats, Lionel Johnson,

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

, Ezra Pound and

Robert Bridges Robert Seymour Bridges (23 October 1844 – 21 April 1930) was an English poet who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is ...

, among others. He also "returned to a great concentration on bookselling".Elkin Mathews Ltd. mss., ca. 1919-1987
indiana.edu. Retrieved 10 April 2020. He died in 1921.

References and sources

;References ;Sources

Captured March 7, 2005 1851 births 1921 deaths People from Gravesend, Kent Small press publishing companies British booksellers British book publishers (people) {{England-bio-stub