The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923 by

Lincoln MacVeagh Lincoln MacVeagh (October 1, 1890January 15, 1972) was a 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 The ...

. The Dial Press shared a building with ''

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. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review and ...

'' and

Scofield Thayer Scofield Thayer (12 December 1889 in Worcester, Massachusetts – 9 July 1982 in Edgartown) was a wealthy 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 l ...

worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924. Authors included

Elizabeth Bowen Elizabeth Bowen CBE (; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London. Life ...

, W. R. Burnett and Glenway Wescott,

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; ...

, 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 Cle ...

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 s ...

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 Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...

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 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 (January 4, ...

. The children's division of Dial Press published books under the Pied Piper imprint. Dutton would be bought by

New American Library The New American Library (also known as NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction, but it now publish ...

, 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 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. Spender, J. A., ''Weetman Pearson: F ...

. 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. 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 Ger ...

. Penguin and Random House merged in 2013, forming

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase o ...

, 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'',

*''

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' ...

'',

*'' The Detective'',

Roderick Thorp Roderick Mayne Thorp, Jr. (September 1, 1936 – April 28, 1999) was an American novelist specializing mainly in police procedural/crime novels. His novel '' The Detective'' was adapted into a film of the same name in 1968. Thorp is also better ...

*''

The Ecstasy Business ''The Ecstasy Business'' was the seventh book by the American satirist and political novelist Richard Condon, first published by The Dial Press in 1967. Told in the third person, it is the broadly comic story of Tynan Bryson, "the greatest film ...

'',

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 1 ...

*'' 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 fil ...

*''

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 20 ...

'',

*''Nine Months in the Life of an Old Maid'',

*'' 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". The ...

'',

*'' Stardance'',

Spider Robinson Spider Robinson (born November 24, 1948) is an American-born Canadian science fiction author. He has won a number of awards for his hard science fiction and humorous stories, including the Hugo Award 1977 and 1983, and another Hugo with his co-a ...

and Jeanne Robinson *''

The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí ''The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí'' is an autobiography by the internationally renowned artist Salvador Dalí published in 1942 by Dial Press. The book was written in French and translated into English by Haakon Chevalier. It covers his family ...

'',

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

*'' Die Nigger Die!'',

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 activ ...

*'' 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 Desi ...

*'' The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail'', Richard Peck, illustrated by

*'' Another Country'', James Baldwin *'' Little Big Man'', Thomas Berger *''Confessions of a Spent Youth'',

*''

The Giant's House ''The Giant's House'' is the debut novel of Elizabeth McCracken Elizabeth McCracken (born 1966) is an American author. She is a recipient of the PEN New England Award. Life and career McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was ...

'',

Elizabeth McCracken Elizabeth McCracken (born 1966) is an American author. She is a recipient of the PEN New England Award. Life and career McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High ...

*''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's ...

'',

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), illustrated by Gennady Spirin, 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 ClassicsLibrary of Living Classics
owu.edu. Retrieved 26 October 2020. * Permanent Library * The Rogue's Library

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

Notable books published by The Dial Press

Book series

See also

Notes

External links