Elkin Mathews and John Lane

Lc name authority rec. no2015126480

LC Heading: Elkin Mathews and John Lane

Biography:

"...The future publisher of The Yellow Book and other works that typify Nineties literary decadence was born into a Devon farming family on March 14, 1854. In his mid teens John Lane migrated to London and soon found employment as a clerk in the Railway Clearing House. An ambitious and energetic autodidact, Lane had by the mid 1880s gained the knowledge, interest, and capital to consider entering the London book trade. A chance association with Elkin Mathews quickly led the pair into a partnership, culminating in the creation in 1887 of the Bodley Head, a firm initially involved in the antiquarian book trade.

Within a few years the Bodley Head had begun publishing limited editions to appeal to a sophisticated market, attracting such authors and illustrators as Oscar Wilde, Richard Le Gallienne, Aubrey Beardsley, and Charles Ricketts. Elkin Mathews was increasingly unhappy with the direction the firm was taking, and in 1894 the partnership was terminated."

John Lane Company records at the Harry Ransom Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00207/hrc-00207.html)

John Lane Company, RLIN Record # TXRCOO-A11. John Lane Company Records. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Austin, Austin, TX. October 2015.