Richard Bentley (publisher)

Richard Bentley
Lithograph portrait by Charles Baugniet, 1844
Born	(1794-10-24)24 October 1794 London, England
Died	10 September 1871(1871-09-10) (aged 76) Ramsgate, England
Education	St Paul's School, London
Occupation	publisher
Spouse	Charlotte Botten (m. 1823)

Richard Bentley (24 October 1794 – 10 September 1871) was a 19th-century English publisher born into a publishing family. He started a firm with his brother in 1819. Ten years later, he went into partnership with the publisher Henry Colburn. Although the business was often successful, publishing the famous "Standard Novels" series, they ended their partnership in acrimony three years later. Bentley continued alone profitably in the 1830s and early 1840s, establishing the well-known periodical Bentley's Miscellany. However, the periodical went into decline after its editor, Charles Dickens, left. Bentley's business started to falter after 1843 and he sold many of his copyrights. Only 15 years later did it begin to recover.