Charles Elkin Mathews

Charles Elkin Mathews (1851 – 10 November 1921) was a British publisher and bookseller who played an important role in the literary life of London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Mathews was born in Gravesend, and learned his trade in London and Bath. In 1884 he opened his own shop in Exeter, where he published his first books in collaboration with other local booksellers. In 1887 he returned to London. From 1892 to 1894 he worked in partnership with John Lane, culminating in the publication of The Yellow Book in 1894.

Lane went on to form The Bodley Head and Mathews set up on his own, publishing works by his neighbour W. B. Yeats, Lionel Johnson, James Joyce, Ezra Pound and Robert Bridges, among others.