Samuel Smiles (1812 - 1904)

Samuel Smiles (23 December 1812 – 16 April 1904), was a Scottish author and reformer. The origins of his most famous book, Self-Help, lay in a speech he gave in March 1845 in response to a request by a Mutual Improvement Society, published as, The Education of the Working Classes. In 1859 he published the book at his own expense and risk, retaining the copyright and paying John Murray a ten percent commission. It sold 20,000 copies within one year of its publication. By the time of Smiles' death in 1904 it had sold over a quarter of a million.