A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Knight, Charles
Knight, Charles (1791-1873).—Publisher and writer, b. at Windsor, where his f. was a bookseller. After serving his ap- prenticeship with him he went to London, and in 1823 started business as a publisher, and co-operated effectively with Brougham and others in connection with The Society for Diffusing Useful Knowledge. He was publisher for the Society, and issued The Penny Magazine, Penny Cyclopædia, Pictorial History of England, etc. He ed. with success The Pictorial Shakespeare, and was the author of a vol. of essays, Once upon a Time, an autobiography, Passages from a Working Life (1863), a History of the Thirty Years' Peace, which was completed by Miss Harriet Martineau, and various other works.