March 15

Born on the 15th in 1791, Charles Knight entered into the field of publishing as an apprentice to his father, a publisher and bookseller in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in England. Knight achieved some success, but at the end of his apprenticeship, he chose to leave his father’s concern and venture into the strange world of journalism. His success continued. In fact, one publication he worked for, the Windsor, Slough and Eton Express remains in print to this day. One thing led to another however, and he left publishing in 1827. Not one to let sleeping dogs lie, he then became the superintendent of the publications of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The society would publish inexpensive books that primarily dealt with self-help topics. Whatever you may think of the type of things they probably covered, doesn’t the name alone make you want to rush out and join the damn thing? I know that I do.
In 1828 and 1829, Knight would publishThe Library of Entertaining Knowledge. At least he hoped that it was entertaining.