Edward Payson Dutton was a prominent American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 book publisher

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

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In 1852, Edward Dutton founded the E. P. Dutton

E. P. Dutton

E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. In 1986, the company was acquired by Penguin Group and split into two imprints: Dutton Penguin and Dutton Children's Books.-History:Edward Payson Dutton founded...

 book-selling company in Boston, Massachusetts. The business sold fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

 and non-fiction

Non-fiction

Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...

 and within a short time expanded into the selling of children's literature

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

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In 1864, Dutton opened a branch office to sell books in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and in 1869 moved his company's headquarters there and entered the book publishing business.

In 1906 Dutton struck what proved to be a significant deal with the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 publishing company of J. M. Dent

J. M. Dent

Joseph Malaby Dent was a British book publisher who produced the Everyman's Library series.Dent was born in Darlington in what is now the Britaania public house. After a short and unsuccessful stint as an apprentice printer he took up bookbinding...

to be the American distributor of the Everyman's Library

Everyman's Library

Everyman's Library is a series of reprinted classic literature currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent , who continue to publish Everyman Classics in paperback.J. M. Dent and Company began to publish the series in 1906...

series of classic literature

Classic book

A classic book is a book accepted as being exemplary or noteworthy, either through an imprimatur such as being listed in any of the Western canons or through a reader's own personal opinion. The term itself is closely related to Western Canon and to various college/university Senior Comprehensive...

 reprints.

Edward Dutton died in 1923, aged 92, but his company continued to flourish and today is an imprint

Imprint

In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...

 of the Penguin Group

Penguin Group

The Penguin Group is a trade book publisher, the largest in the world , having overtaken Random House in 2009. The Penguin Group is the name of the incorporated division of parent Pearson PLC that oversees these publishing operations...

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