John Lane (publisher)

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John Lane (March 14, 1854 - February 2, 1925) was a British publisher.

Originally from Devon, where he was born into a farming family, Lane moved to London already in his teens. While working as a clerk at the Railway Clearing House, he acquired knowledge as an autodidact.

After entering the London book trade he became co-founder of The Bodley Head, originally a firm that dealt with antiquarian books. They later went into publishing. Lane is mainly associated with publishing controversial and audacious texts, especially for a small, sophisticated audience. Examples are the periodical The Yellow Book (1894 - 1897) and Lane's Keynote Series, which included contentious material such as Grant Allen's novel The Woman Who Did (1895).

Lane died in 1925. His nephew, Allen Lane, founded Penguin Books.

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