Joseph Marshall Stoddart (August 10, 1845 – February 25, 1921), was an American businessman, Editor of ''

Lippincott's Monthly Magazine ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine'' was a 19th-century literary magazine published in Philadelphia from 1868 to 1915, when it relocated to New York to become ''Robert M. McBride, McBride's Magazine''. It merged with ''Scribner's Magazine'' in 1916. ...

'' from 1886 to 1894 and later of the ''New Science Review''. The son of Joseph Marshall Stoddart Sr, and Elizabeth Fahnestock, Stoddart was born in 1845 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. At an early stage of his career, he was a publisher, and after getting to know the Canadian weather forecaster

Henry George Vennor Henry George Vennor (30 December 1840 – 8 June 1884) was a Canadian geologist and ornithologist who became well known as a weather forecaster. Vennor was the son of Henry Vennor, a hardware merchant, by his marriage to Marion Paterson, and was e ...

Stoddart published ''Vennor's Almanac and Weather Record for 1882''. Stoddart was a friend of

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

, and after his arrival at ''Lippincott's'' William Sharp wrote for the magazine. A memorial inscription at the

Langham Hotel, London The Langham, London, is a 5-star hotel in London, England. It is situated in the district of Marylebone on Langham Place and faces up Portland Place towards Regent's Park. History The Langham was designed by John Giles and built by Luca ...

, commemorates a meeting there on August 30, 1889, between Stoddart,

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

, and

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

, when Stoddart commissioned them to write stories for ''Lippincott's''. Doyle wrote ''

The Sign of Four ''The Sign of the Four'', also called ''The Sign of Four'', is an 1890 detective novel, and it is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes by British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring ...

'', which Stoddart published in February 1890, while Wilde wrote ''

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American period ...

'', published in the magazine in July 1890.Nicholas Utechin, "A Golden Day" (Sherlock Holmes Society of London, 2010); se
A Golden Day
undated, at sherlock-holmes.org.uk, accessed April 29, 2019

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoddart, Joseph Marshall 1845 births 1921 deaths American magazine editors