Desiderius George Dery

Born in Austria-Hungary, Desiderius George Dery became a major figure in the American silk industry after moving to the United States in the late 19th century. Historical accounts of the Lehigh Valley silk trade describe him as one of its most important entrepreneurs, and by 1920 he was reported to be the largest single producer of silk in the world.

Alongside his business career, he wrote Under the Big Dipper, published by Brentano's in 1916 and now available through Project Gutenberg. The book gives modern readers a glimpse of his voice as an author and shows that his interests reached well beyond manufacturing.

Dery died in 1942 in Pennsylvania. While he is remembered chiefly for his role in the silk industry, his surviving book preserves another side of him: a businessman who also wanted to write, observe, and share his view of the world.