J.M. Dent & Sons, Publishers
c1900 - c1965
J.M. Dent & Sons, Publishers, were a long-established publishing firm in Canada. They
were the local arm of Aldine House, an English publishing house. Dent had an office
in Toronto, and for some time they had an office in Vancouver at 1300 Robson Street.
This was at the corner of Robson & Bute, almost next door to the
Vanderpant Galleries.
Dent typically published elementary school books, readers, and workbooks. A number
of their publications were written by local authors and poets, and illustrated by
local artists, in addition to illustrations provided from their English business. A
number of illustrations by famous artist Arthur Rackham found their way into
Mother Nature Stories, for example, including a pen & ink drawing about
salmon fishing dated 1899.
In 1913 Dent published The Yearbook of Canadian Art, compiled by the Arts and
Letters Club of Toronto. The book had sections on Literature, Architecture, Music,
Painting, and Sculpture. Chapters in the Painting section included The Canadian
Art Club by Lawren Harris, and Graphic Art by
Arthur Lismer, both members of the Group
of Seven.
R.S. Sherman was certainly the most prolific local author and
illustrator to take advantage of Dent's publishing capabilities, starting with his
first book Mother Nature Stories in 1924, illustrated by his daughter
Maud Sherman. She found herself illustrating an internationally
published textbook, with her drawings alongside illustrations by Arthur Rackham, the year
before she even started taking classes at the Vancouver School of
Decorative and Applied Arts.
R.S. Sherman continued writing books, including The Canadian Industrial Reader,
Wild Folk and Their Ways, and a series of six Silent Study Readers,
the latter series illustrated by Annora Brown, an Albertan
artist with eastern art training, and by Mary I. Wright. In the early 1930s Sherman
wrote a series of Nature and Language Workbooks, illustrated by
Maud Sherman. A copy of one of these workbooks is in
the National Library of Canada.
The Western Editor for J.M. Dent was George Stephen. His brother was A.M. Stephen, a
poet of local and national note, who wrote and published a number of volumes of poetry
for J.M. Dent such as The Voice of Canada, illustrated by E. Wallcousins,
in 1926.
Gwendolen Kortwright Lamont illustrated a book of plays
for children for Dent.
In 1936 Dent published Far Horizons - The King's Wish, a compilation
of stories and peoms extensively illustrated by John Innes.
One story by Ruiter Stinson Sherman was republished in
the book - "Quill Pig, the Porcupine".
In 1945 Illingworth Kerr wrote and illustrated "Gay Dogs and
Dark Horses", which was published by J.M. Dent & Sons, Canada. Kerr also provided the
cover illustrations and endpapers for the Canadian Parade Reader series.
In 1946 Dent published Arts and Crafts for Canadian Schools, a teacher's
manual by Louis A. Shore, an Ontario teacher.
Another artist who illustrated at least one book for J.M.Dent was
Richard Walter Major, with Gay Adventurers in 1947.
Dent continued to publish elementary school books into the 1960s, with titles such as
Happy Highways, illustrated by Jerry Lazare and Lewis Parker, and Young
Adventurers, illustrated by Annora Brown.
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