Further research resulted in the University of North Carolina kindly supplying correspondence between Dumper and the publisher, who died on May 9, l926, revealing their strong religious beliefs. .
Near death
Dent sent her a typed letter on February 9, 1926 , after a long illness, near death, a doctor having told him he would never leave the bedroom again. Yet he was able to get up and go to the office for a day or two , very weak.
It appears that he had varying views on the Bible , matters religious , and the world than Eleanor, whom he called My dear Sister.
In part, he wrote : The world is far bigger than you have imagined it and the care of the Almighty is a far greater thing than you have imagined . I do not know if you have watched the development of science and thought of late, but it has been proved and understood that there is only one world and one universe ; that all the world is one great creation spreading over all the space and what the development of that great world may be I cannot tell .
There would , he hoped, be a " great wide development " for all people .
Sins of Charles Dickens
He said he was one of those who " care for the good things and I humbly lie down in this belief that somehow the old hymn that Charles Dickens used to quote contains the great (following) truth . "
My sins are heavy, but Thy Mercy far Outweighs them every one .
Dumper , living in Auckland , expressed the view she thought Joseph had done wonderful work spreading "good clean literature" throughout the world .
She recounted in great detail " the last hour on earth " of his brother Hugh . A friend had been present with them and they sang his favourite hymn, How Sweet the Sound of Jesus Sounds.
She also said a schoolteacher friend had visited London and had been well received at the publishing house . In 1925 , under the auspices of the Overseas Education League , 100 teachers from Canada, Australia and New Zealand visited the London publishing headquarters and were welcomed by Dent, described as the Chief.
The book at the top is a presentation copy to R. A Beckett , signed by Hugh Dent , the publisher's son , dated May 25, 1933.
In l928 , the London Sunday Times ran the following extraordinary tribute to Everyman's Library by English poet, author, biographer and critic, Sir Edmund Gosse .
"A cosmic convulsion might utterly destroy all the other printed works in the world, and still, if a complete set of Everyman's Library floated upon the waters, enough would be preserved to carry on the unbroken tradition of literature. Everyman's Library is a very remarkable phenomenon , and one that does credit to our civilisation."
There were more than 800 volumes in the library which covered English and foreign literature, fiction, biography, classics, essays ,science and travel, with at least 400 authors . It was so extensive that it required storage space for two million volumes .
