Howard Haycraft (July 25, 1905November 12, 1991) was an American writer, editor, and publisher. Haycraft was born on July 24, 1905, in

Madelia, Minnesota Madelia ( ) is a city in Watonwan County, Minnesota, United States, along the Watonwan River. The population was 2,396 at the 2020 census. History Madelia was founded in 1857, and named for the daughter of a first settler. A post office has b ...

, to Marie (Stelzer) and Julius Everett Haycraft. He received a bachelor's degree from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1928. Haycraft began working at the

H. W. Wilson Company The H. W. Wilson Company, Inc. is a publisher and indexing company that was founded in 1898 and is located in The Bronx, New York. It provides print and digital content aimed at patrons of public school, college, and professional libraries in bot ...

in 1929 after a brief stint at the

University of Minnesota Press The University of Minnesota Press is a university press that is part of the University of Minnesota. It had annual revenues of just over $8 million in fiscal year 2018. Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is best known for its book ...

. He was president of H. W. Wilson from 1953 to 1967 and chairman of its board of directors thereafter. At H. W. Wilson, Haycraft edited and contributed to reference works about writers and literature. He was fascinated by mysteries and

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...

. His book ''Murder for Pleasure: The Life and Times of the Detective Story'' (1941)—described in a profile published that year as the "first full-length history and survey of police fiction"—laid out an early critical view of the mystery genre and its theory. ''Murder for Pleasure'' identifies the origins of detective fiction in the work of

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

, surveys the work of authors Haycraft identified as being of great quality or historical importance, and provides an overview of the critical literature on detective fiction up to its publication. Haycraft received a special citation in 1976 at the centennial of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

. A resident of

Hightstown, New Jersey Hightstown is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Nestled within the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region, Hightstown is an historic, commercial, and cultural hub of Cent ...

, Haycraft died there on November 12, 1991.

Citations

1905 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American male writers American literary historians American publishing chief executives University of Minnesota alumni People from Hightstown, New Jersey People from Watonwan County, Minnesota Writers from Minnesota Writers from Mercer County, New Jersey {{US-editor-stub