DK

DK (Dorling Kindersley) is a British publisher of illustrated reference books, founded in London in 1974 by Christopher Dorling and Peter Kindersley and best known for its Eyewitness series.

Both founders had worked at the publisher Mitchell Beazley in the early 1970s, Dorling as a cartographer turned salesman and Kindersley as art director. They pooled £10,000 of savings and began in Kindersley's London home as a book packager, producing books that larger publishers licensed. The first licence went to Alfred A. Knopf for three reference titles. DK's first book under its own name was the First Aid Manual (1982), endorsed by the British Red Cross. In 1988, through a 50/50 joint venture with the French publisher Gallimard, it launched Eyewitness, a photographic children's reference line (Eyewitness Guides in Britain) that grew to more than 160 titles and, by DK's account, over 50 million copies in 36 languages, and was adapted for British television. Microsoft bought a 26% stake in 1991, which helped fund DK Multimedia, and the company floated on the stock market in 1992. After an overstock of Star Wars books in 1999 left it in debt, Pearson took it over in 2000. It became part of Penguin Random House when that company was formed in 2013, and has been wholly owned by Bertelsmann since 2019. DK now publishes in 63 languages.

For collectors

The DK books with the most collector interest are the early Eyewitness Guides from 1988 onwards, whose photographs against white backgrounds defined the house style, and early own-name titles such as the 1982 First Aid Manual. The series was first published in Great Britain, and several titles were renamed for the American market (Cinema became Film, for example), so British readers should look for the Dorling Kindersley, London, editions.