Stanley Paul founded the publishing company bearing his name in London in 1906, and directed it until 1927, when it went into voluntary liquidation. During this period the firm published cheap editions of thrillers and romances, and some light non-fiction. It became a subsidiary of Hutchinson and Company in 1928, and from that time, although it continued as a publisher of fiction, has largely been known as a publisher of sports books. Stanley Paul was the first publisher of a number of the novels of Vance Palmer.
Stanley Paul has continued as an imprint through the various changes of ownership of Hutchinson and Company: as part of London Weekend Television from 1979, Century Hutchinson from 1985, and Random Century from 1989.