Richards, Grant (1872-1948) | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Grant Richards was born on October 21, 1872 in Hillhead, Glasgow, the son of Emily Jerrard and Franklin Thomas Richards, an academic. Inspired by his uncle, author Grant Allen (1848-1899), Richards became interested in publishing as a teenager. He worked at a wholesale bookseller and then another publishing firm before establishing his own London-based publishing firm in 1897. Richards was able to grow a vast business network that spanned several countries, including the United States, France, Germany, Italy, and Australia. He published works by a wide array of authors, including James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, A.E. Housman, and Ernest Oldmeadow.

As a publisher, Richards created and published several notable series including the Dumpy Books for Children series as well as the World’s Classics series, which became a huge success. The World’s Classics series was later sold to Oxford University Press after his first bankruptcy in 1905 and renamed the Oxford World Classics series. Richards’ second bankruptcy occurred in 1926. As an author, Richards wrote several novels—including Caviare, Valentine, Bittersweet—and memoirs, titled "Memories of a Misspent Youth” and “Author Hunting by An Old Literary Sportsman.”

Richards married his first wife, Elisina Palamidessi de Castelvecchio, in 1898, with whom he shared four children. The couple divorced in 1914. He then married his second wife, Marie Madeleine Agnes Richards, in 1915. Richards died on February 24, 1948 in Montecarlo, Monaco.