Joseph Marshall Stoddart (August 10, 1845 – February 25, 1921), was an American business man, 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 another Joseph Marshall Stoddart, by his marriage to Eliza Fahnestock, Stoddart was born in 1845 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. 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 (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

, 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 one of the largest and best known traditional-style grand hotels 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 Langha ...

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

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

, 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 Ho ...

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

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

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

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical fiction, philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''Th ...

'', 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