George Bentley (publisher)
| George Bentley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 June 1828 Dorset Square, London, England |
| Died | 29 May 1895 The Mere, Upton Park, Slough, England |
| Occupation | Publisher Writer |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Williams/Bentley (1826-1898) |
| Children | Richard Bentley (1854-1936) |
| Parent(s) |
Richard Bentley (1794-1871) Charlotte Botten/Bell (1800–1871) |
George Bentley (7 June 1828 – 29 May 1895) was a 19th-century English publisher based in London.
Born into a family of publishers and printers, Bentley entered into partnership with his father around 1845, at a time when the firm's fortunes were in decline. Relations between father and son were sometimes difficult, and on at least one occasion George removed himself from the business. After 1857, he became more confident of his position in the firm, increasingly steering its progress. An early "find" was Wilkie Collins. During the 1860s George Bentley identified and published a number of other authors who later achieved notability. He became increasingly influential and knowledgeable as a publisher of fiction, formally taking control of the business after his father's death in 1871.
Bentley also diversified successfully into magazine publishing, exploiting the synergies available from simultaneously publishing novels serialized in monthly servings and thereafter in book form.
George Bentley was born "at seven o'clock in the morning of Saturday" at an address in Dorset Square, then on the western edge of London, fourth of nine recorded children of the publisher Richard Bentley (1794-1871) by his marriage to Charlotte Botten/Bell (1800–1871). An uncle was the printer-antiquarian Samuel Bentley. Two elder brothers died in infancy. George Bentley's education included a period at the school run by the nonconformist minister, John Potticary, in Blackheath, which also numbered Benjamin Disraeli among its alumni. Bentley went on to King's College London, concluding his formal education and entering his father's "publishing office" when he was 17. During the next few years he was able to travel abroad, and was in Rome in 1849 when French troops entered the city to put down a republican rebellion. Later in life he restricted his travel to occasional vacations at health resorts in the British Isles. He was a lifelong asthmatic.
Bentley's father had launched a literary magazine in 1836 to which the son contributed positive reviews of novels by the still relatively unknown Wilkie Collins. A cause of tension between father and son arose when Richard Bentley believed he had been excluded from commercial discussions involving George Bentley and the author. Sources imply that this was not the only time that disagreements broke out between Richard and George Bentley during the early years of George's publishing career. As George became more of a driving force in the inter-generational partnership, the firm became known for its eye-catching and confidence inspiring book bindings. A later admirer was the novelist Michael Sadleir, who wrote that no rival publisher "went in so thoroughly and so persistently ... for all the panoply of glitter and colour ... [that betokened ] ... prosperity, confidence, and peace".
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