Nelson Doubleday
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nelson Doubleday (June 16, 1889 – January 11, 1949) was an American
book publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
and president of Doubleday Company from 1922–1946. His father Frank Nelson Doubleday had founded the business. His son Nelson Doubleday Jr. followed him into it, taking part in expansion and serving as president from 1978–1986.


Early life and education

Nelson Doubleday was born in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York to Frank Nelson Doubleday (the first Doubleday ancestor came to Boston in the early 1600s from England) (the name Doubleday is English – possibly of Norman origin originally, ''DuBaldy'' ) and Neltje Blanchan. His older brother Felix Doty was adopted, and he had a younger sister Dorothy. In the city, the children attended a private Friends School run by
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
. The family moved out to a large estate in Locust Valley on Long Island, called "Effendi" after their father's nickname given to him by his friend, the British author
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...
. The author wrote his '' Just So Stories'' after the boy Nelson asked him to publish a book of animal stories. Nelson grew up in the world of book publishing, as his father had founded the Doubleday company. His mother wrote several books about gardening and birds, which were considered notable for their combination of scientific content and lyrical expression. Nelson later studied at Dr. Holbrook's Military School in Ossining, New York. He attended two years of
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
before joining his father in business, which he found more interesting. Even as a youth, he had creative solutions to business issues, for instance, suggesting selling dated magazines at a discount and thereby gaining some revenue from them.


Career

Doubleday established his own business in 1910 and used the profits to publish books under his own imprint. After serving in
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he joined his father's firm, Doubleday, Page and Company, as a junior partner. After the firm merged with Doran Company, and upon his father's death in 1934, Nelson Doubleday became chairman of the board of Doubleday, Doran Company, Incorporated. He remained chairman of the firm (later Doubleday and Company) until his death in 1949. With some expansion, he still maintained Doubleday as a family publishing business, with one associated book club.Ingham, John N. (1983)
''Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders''
Vol. 1, p. 293. Greenwood Press.


Marriage and family

He married Ellen McCarter (1899–1978). Her father was an attorney who organized the
Public Service Corporation The Public Service Corporation (PSC) was an energy and transportation company in New Jersey. It was formed to shore up financing and development of New Jersey's streetcar and power companies at a time when they were growing but exhausting Capital ...
in New Jersey, serving as president for its first 36 years. They had a son Nelson Doubleday Jr. (1933–2015) and a daughter Neltje (1934–2021), named for Nelson's mother. At age 18, Neltje married John Turner Sargent, Sr., who was already working at Doubleday, and they had two children. Nelson senior died, aged 59, in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Both Sargent and Nelson Doubleday, Jr., worked for Doubleday. Beginning with Sargent in 1963, each served as president. Nelson Jr. served as president from 1978 to 1986 when, following wide changes in the publishing business, he sold the company to the German conglomerate,
Bertelsmann The Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Bertelsmann (), is a German privately held company, private multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, ...
. After the Sargents divorced in 1965, Neltje moved to
Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
with her two children. She remarried, bought a ranch and restored and operated the historic Sheridan Inn, and became an abstract artist. In the 1980s, she created the "Neltje Blanchan Literary Prize" in honor of her paternal grandmother. In 2001, Neltje founded Jentel, an artist-in-residence program supported by her private family foundation. In 2005, Neltje received the Governor's Art Award as one of Wyoming's "preeminent artists." In 2010, she made an estate gift of her ranch, studio, art collection and financial holdings to the
University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...
, the largest in its history.


Legacy and honors

Ellen Doubleday left her collection of Doubleday business and personal documents to
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
. The ''Ellen McCarter Doubleday Papers, circa 1930s–1978'' contain business and social correspondence, documents by and from Doubleday authors, personal and family letters, and issues related to Doubleday estates.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doubleday, Nelson 1889 births 1949 deaths Doubleday family American book publishers (people)