Dorling Kindersley (DK) is an international publishing company specialising in reference books for adults and children.
DK was founded as a book-packaging company by Christopher Dorling and Peter Kindersley in London in 1974, and in 1982 moved into publishing. The first book published under the DK name was a First Aid Manual for the British voluntary medical services; this book established the company's distinctive visual style of copiously illustrated text on a glossy white background. DK Inc. began publishing in the United States in 1991.
George Lucas was so impressed with the work of DK on the 'Illustrated Dictionary' of the original three Star Wars films, he signed a deal for DK to produce similar books for "The Phantom Menace" This gave rise in 1999, to "The Phantom Menace: Star Wars Episode 1: Incredible Cross Sections". Expecting a runaway success of the film, 13 million copies of this book were printed. The subsequent huge discounting of, and then pulping of over nine million copies pushed the privately held company to the brink of financial ruin.
In 2000, DK was acquired by the Pearson PLC media company, which also owns the Penguin Books label; in the same year, Kindersley was replaced as Chief Executive by Anthony Forbes Watson.
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