author
Ernest Rhys
1859–1946
Best remembered for helping put classic literature into ordinary readers’ hands, this Welsh-English writer and editor played a major role in shaping the much-loved Everyman’s Library. He also wrote poetry, essays, fiction, and plays across a long literary career.
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About the author
Born in Islington, London, on July 17, 1859, he was raised partly in Carmarthen and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Although he first trained as a mining engineer, he moved into literary life and became known as a writer, poet, journalist, and editor.
He is most closely associated with Everyman’s Library, the influential series of inexpensive classic books launched by J. M. Dent. As its founding editor, he helped bring a wide range of world literature to general readers, earning a lasting place in publishing history.
Alongside his editorial work, he wrote essays, stories, novels, poems, and plays. He died in London on May 25, 1946, and is remembered both for his own writing and for widening access to books that might otherwise have remained out of reach for many readers.