Frederick Abbott Stokes (November 4, 1857 – November 15, 1939) was an American publisher, founder and long-time head of the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

Frederick A. Stokes Company.

Biography

Stokes graduated from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

in 1879. He worked at

Dodd, Mead and Company Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. History Origins In 1839, Moses Woodruff Dodd (1813–1899) and John S. Ta ...

for a year and in 1881 established White & Stokes, a partnership that became the Frederick A. Stokes Company in 1890. The Stokes businesses published more than 3,000 books in his 58 years, 1881 to 1939. Stokes published established writers such as

Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little ...

, Frank Buck, and

Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...

. He also published beginning writers such as

James Branch Cabell James Branch Cabell (; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and ''belles-lettres''. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His works ...

Maria Montessori Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori ( , ; August 31, 1870 – May 6, 1952) was an Italian physician and educator best known for the philosophy of education that bears her name, and her writing on scientific pedagogy. At an early age, Montessori e ...

, and Percival Wren. Best sellers included: ''

The Story of Ferdinand ''The Story of Ferdinand'' (1936) is the best-known work by the American author Munro Leaf. Illustrated by Robert Lawson, the children's book tells the story of a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in bullfights. He sits in the midd ...

'', ''

On Jungle Trails ''On Jungle Trails'' is a book-length compilation of Frank Buck’s stories describing how he captures wild animals. For many years, this book was a fifth grade reader in the Texas public schools, approved for state-wide use. Some of the facts B ...

'', ''

Doctor Dolittle Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in the ...

'', ''

When Worlds Collide ''When Worlds Collide'' is a 1933 science fiction novel co-written by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie; they also co-authored the sequel ''After Worlds Collide'' (1934). It was first published as a six-part monthly serial (September 1932 through Fe ...

'', ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...

'', and ''

The Story of Little Black Sambo ''The Story of Little Black Sambo'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Scottish author Helen Bannerman and published by Grant Richards in October 1899. As one in a series of small-format books called The Dumpy Books for Children, ...

''. Stokes was also known for publishing high quality art and children's books, such as "The Glue Books", a popular 17-volume series beginning with ''The House That Glue Built'' in 1905.Jackson, C. D. (2010). "From the Collection: With Paper and Glue: Building the Commercial Success of an Arts and Crafts Toy". ''Winterthur Portfolio'' 44 (4): 351–386. . Stokes was an opponent of the new Book Clubs of the 1920s, and of modern advertising methods such as billboards and radio ads. Stokes died 1939, at age 82, in his home at 344 West 72nd Street, Manhattan. Many prominent people from the book industry attended his funeral service at the Church of the Incarnation (Episcopal). He was buried at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several bl ...

in Brooklyn. Stokes left the publishing company to his sons Horace Winston and Frederick Brett, who were then the company treasurer and secretary.

J. B. Lippincott J. B. Lippincott & Co. was an American publishing house founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1836 by Joshua Ballinger Lippincott. It was incorporated in 1885 as J. B. Lippincott Company. History 1836–1977 Joshua Ballinger Lippincott (Marc ...

acquired it in 1943.

Authors

Authors' names are followed by dates of their known association with Frederick A. Stokes.

Writers

Helen Bannerman Helen Brodie Cowan Bannerman (' Watson; 25 February 1862 – 13 October 1946) was a Scottish author of children's books. She is best known for her first book, ''Little Black Sambo'' (1899). Life Bannerman was born at 35 Royal Terrace, Edinbur ...

, 1900 *

Louis Bromfield Louis Bromfield (December 27, 1896 – March 18, 1956) was an American writer and conservationist. A bestselling novelist in the 1920s, he reinvented himself as a farmer in the late 1930s and became one of the earliest proponents of sustainab ...

, 1926 * Frank Buck, 1936 *

, 1901 *

, 1899 *

Edward S. Curtis Edward Sherriff Curtis (February 19, 1868 – October 19, 1952) was an American photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and on Native American people. Sometimes referred to as the "Shadow Catcher", Curtis traveled ...

, 1912 *

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early ...

, 1912 *

Ferrin Fraser Ferrin Fraser (May 11, 1903 – April 1, 1969 in Lockport (city), New York, Lockport, New York) was a radio scriptwriter and short story author who collaborated with Frank Buck (animal collector), Frank Buck on radio scripts and five books. Edu ...

, 1936 *

Susan Glaspell Susan Keating Glaspell (July 1, 1876 – July 28, 1948) was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. With her husband George Cram Cook, she founded the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theatre company. First known ...

, 1909–1931 * Owen Johnson. 1912–1915 *

Munro Leaf Wilbur Monroe Leaf ( Munro Leaf) (December 4, 1905 – December 21, 1976) was an American writer of children's literature who wrote and illustrated nearly 40 books during his 40-year career. He is best known for ''The Story of Ferdinand'' (1936), ...

, 1934–1942 *

Lois Lenski Lois Lenore Lenski Covey (October 14, 1893 – September 11, 1974) was a Newbery Medal-winning author and illustrator of picture books and children's literature. Beginning in 1927 with her first books, ''Skipping Village'' and ''Jack Horner's Pie: ...

, 1929–1943 *

J. Thomas Looney John Thomas Looney (luni) (14 August 1870 – 17 January 1944) was an English school teacher who is notable for having originated the Oxfordian theory, which claims that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550–1604) was the true author of S ...

, 1870 – 1944 *

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

, 1910–1912 *

Hugh Lofting Hugh John Lofting (14 January 1886 – 26 September 1947) was an English American writer trained as a civil engineer, who created the classic children's literature character Doctor Dolittle. The fictional physician to talking animals, based in a ...

, 1920–1936 *

Mary MacLane Mary MacLane (May 1, 1881 – ''c''. August 6, 1929) was a controversial Canadian-born American writer whose frank memoirs helped usher in the confessional style of autobiographical writing. MacLane was known as the "Wild Woman of Butte".Wat ...

, 1917 * Elizabeth Cooper, 1914-1927 *

, 1912–1917 *

L. M. Montgomery Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a collection of novels, essays, short stories, and poetry beginning in 1908 with ''Anne of Green Gables''. She ...

, 1917–1939 *

Richard F. Outcault Richard Felton Outcault (; January 14, 1863 – September 25, 1928) was an American cartoonist. He was the creator of the series ''The Yellow Kid'' and ''Buster Brown'' and is considered a key pioneer of the modern comic strip. Life and career ...

, 1904–1914 *

Robert E. Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...

, 1898–1912 *

John J. Pershing General of the Armies John Joseph Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), nicknamed "Black Jack", was a senior United States Army officer. He served most famously as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Wes ...

, 1931 *

Olive Higgins Prouty Olive Higgins Prouty (10 January 1882 – 24 March 1974) was an American novelist and poet, best known for her 1923 novel '' Stella Dallas'' and her pioneering consideration of psychotherapy in her 1941 novel ''Now, Voyager''. Life and influ ...

, 1919 *

Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (; 18 April 1874 – 21 September 1938) was a Croatian writer. Within her native land, as well as internationally, she has been praised as the best Croatian writer for children. Early life She was born on 18 April 1874 i ...

, 1922 *

Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...

, 1929–1940 *

Edward V. Rickenbacker Edward Vernon Rickenbacker or Eddie Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.W. Heath Robinson, 1925 *

Damon Runyon Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To ...

, 1931–1938 * Walter C. Sweeney, Sr., 1924 *

William M. Timlin William Mitcheson Timlin (11 April 1892 – 7 June 1943) was an architect and illustrator. Early life He was born in Ashington, Northumberland, the son of a colliery fireman. He showed talent for drawing at Morpeth Grammar School, and recei ...

, 1923 * Clara Andrews Williams, 1905–1926 * Percival Wren, 1925–1933 *

Lee Wulff Lee Wulff (February 10, 1905 – April 28, 1991), born Henry Leon Wulff, was an artist, pilot, fly fisherman, author, filmmaker, outfitter and conservationist who made significant contributions to recreational fishing, especially fly fishing and t ...

, 1939 *

Philip Wylie Philip Gordon Wylie (May 12, 1902 – October 25, 1971) was an American writer of works ranging from pulp science fiction, mysteries, social diatribes and satire to ecology and the threat of nuclear holocaust. Early life and career Born in Bever ...

, 1933–1934

Illustrators

* Joseph M. Gleeson, *

Maria Louise Kirk Maria Louise Kirk (21 June 1860 – 21 June 1938), usually credited as M. L. Kirk or Maria L. Kirk, was an American painter and illustrator of more than fifty books, most of them for children. Her notable work includes illustrations for a US edi ...

, 1904–1927 Lewis Carroll, ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a ...

'' (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1904); Lucy Maud Montgomery, ''

Emily's Quest ''Emily's Quest'' is a novel and the last of the ''Emily'' trilogy by Lucy Maud Montgomery. After finishing '' Emily Climbs'', Montgomery suspended writing ''Emily's Quest'' and published '' The Blue Castle''; she resumed writing and published in ...

'' (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1927) * George Alfred Williams, 1905–1926

References

External links

*
Frederick A. Stokes Company
at LC Authorities, 91 records * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Frederick A. American book publishers (people) People from Brooklyn 1857 births 1939 deaths Yale Law School alumni Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery

Biography

Authors

Writers

Illustrators

See also

References

Further reading

External links