Charles Scribner

Charles Scribner is the name of several members of a New York publishing family associated with the company bearing their name.

Charles Scribner

Charles Scribner (February 21, 1821-August 26, 1871) was a New Yorker who, with Isaac Baker, founded a publishing company that would eventually become Charles Scribner's Sons.

Scribner was born in New York City to Uriah Rogers and Betsey (Hawley) Scribner, graduated from Princeton University in the class of 1840, and married Emma Elizabeth Blair (1827-1869) in 1846. He died of typhoid in 1871 while traveling in Lucerne, Switzerland.

After graduation, Scribner was the younger partner of Baker in forming a new kind of publishing house. Unlike traditional houses, which were generally outgrowths of printing companies or book sellers, theirs would exist purely as a publisher. With the death of Baker in 1850, Scribner gained control of the company, renaming it Charles Scribner and Company.

In 1865 the company made its first venture into magazine publishing with Hours at Home.

Charles Scribner II

Charles Scribner II (October 18, 1854-April 19, 1930) was born in New York City. The elder Scribner passed control of the Company to his oldest son, John Blair Scribner (June 4, 1850-January 21, 1879), who was then joined by Charles Scribner II in 1875 after his Princeton graduation. When the other partners in the venture sold their stake to the family, the company was renamed Charles Scribner's Sons.

In 1870 the Scribners organized a new firm, Scribner and Company, to publish a magazine entitled Scribner’s Monthly which became highly popular. They also launched a well-known magazine for children, St. Nicholas, in 1873 with Mary Mapes Dodge as editor and Frank R. Stockton as assistant editor. The Scribner family sold this company to outside investors in 1881 and Scribner’s Monthly was renamed the Century Magazine, with the Scribners enjoined from publishing any magazine for a period of five years.

In 1884, Scribner's younger brother, Arthur Hawley Scribner, joined Charles Scribner's Sons. The book publishing business was highly successful, and in 1886 Scribner's Magazine was relaunched. It too was a great success.

Scribner's brother-in-law, Ernest Flagg, was a noted architect who designed two Beaux-Arts buildings for the firm's New York headquarters.

Charles Scribner III

Charles Scribner III (1890-1952) graduated from Princeton in 1913, and like his namesakes promptly joined the firm.

Charles Scribner IV

Charles Scribner IV was a cryptanalyst during the Korean War and later joined Charles Scribner's Sons after his father's unexpected death.

He reverted to the name Charles Scribner Jr. for ordinary use. His son, who became an art historian and also worked for the publishing company, became Charles Scribner III. It was Charles Scribner Jr. who managed the firm up to its acquisition by Macmillan in 1984.

References

• http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/scribner.html

External Links

• 1989, 1991 audio interviews with Charles Scribner Jr. about the House of Scribner by Don Swaim

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