The Dial Press is a publishing house founded in 1923 by

Lincoln MacVeagh Lincoln MacVeagh (October 1, 1890January 15, 1972) was a United States diplomat, archaeologist, soldier and publisher, he was the founder of Dial Press. He served a long career as the United States ambassador to several countries during diffic ...

. 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 an ...

'' and

Scofield Thayer Scofield Thayer (December 12, 1889 in Worcester, Massachusetts – July 9, 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 ...

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

Elizabeth Bowen Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen ( ; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer notable for her books about "The Big House in Ireland, the Big House" of Irish Landed gentry, landed ...

W. R. Burnett William Riley Burnett (November 25, 1899 April 25, 1982) was an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for the crime novel ''Little Caesar'', the film adaptation of which is considered the first of the classic American gangster mo ...

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 (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' has been ranked ...

, 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 ...

Herbert Gold Herbert Gold (March 9, 1924 – November 19, 2023) was an American novelist. Early life Herbert Gold was born on March 9, 1924, in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, Ohio, to a Russian Jewish family. His parents were Samuel S. and Frieda (Fra ...

, 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, and

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

History

In 1963, Dell Publishing Company acquired 60 percent of The Dial Press's stock but the Press remained an independent subsidiary. It was jointly owned by Richard Baron (1923–2021) 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, including the ...

was editor-in-chief. In 1969 The Dial Press became wholly owned by Dell Publishing Company. In 1976

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

bought Dell Publishing and the children's division of The 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 1, ...

. The children's division of Dial Press published books under the Pied Piper imprint. Dutton was 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 publi ...

, 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 company, media Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a Mergers and acquisitions, mer ...

, a division of Pearson PLC. 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 children's 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 imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. Penguin and Random House merged in 2013, forming

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

, 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'',

*'' 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'',

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 *'' 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 th ...

*''

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 2 ...

'',

*''Nine Months in the Life of an Old Maid'', Judith Rossner *'' The Report from Iron Mountain'' *'' The Fire Next Time'',

*'' Stardance'',

Spider Robinson Spider Robinson (born November 24, 1948) is an American-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-author ...

and

Jeanne Robinson Jeanne M. Rubbicco 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 and N ...

*'' 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), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

*'' Die Nigger Die!'', H. Rap Brown *'' Ethics: Origin and Development'',

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later s ...

*'' Secrets at Sea'', Richard Peck, illustrated by Kelly Murphy *''See a Heart, Share a Heart'', Eric Telchin *'' The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail'', Richard Peck, illustrated by Kelly Murphy *'' 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, 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 o ...

'',

Elizabeth McCracken Elizabeth McCracken (born September 16, 1966) is an American author. She is a recipient of the PEN New England Award. Life McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North Hig ...

*''It was gonna be like Paris'', Emily Listfield * '' The War That Saved My Life'', Kimberly Brubaker Bradley * ''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 novell ...

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influent ...

, 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 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. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...

, illustrated by Gennady Spirin, translated by Gela Jacobson

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
seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 26 October 2020. * Permanent Library * The Rogue's Library

Notes

External links

* * The Dial Press Records. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
The Dial Press finding aid
for chronological key events {{Authority control Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Publishing companies established in 1923 Penguin Random House Dial Press books

History

Notable books published by The Dial Press

Book series

See also

Notes

External links