Robert Cortes Holliday (July 18, 1880 – January 1, 1947) was an American writer and literary editor. The Business of Writing Holliday Renesselaer

Biography

He was born on July 18, 1880, in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

, and moved to New York to study at the

Art Students' League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stud ...

and worked briefly as an illustrator for periodicals. He then sold books, worked as a librarian, and became a literary editor at the New York Tribune, Doubleday, Page & Co., and George H. Doran & Co. before taking an editorial position with '' The Bookman'', serving as its chief editor from 1919 to 1920. After he left ''The Bookman'' in 1923, Holliday continued his criticism, worked for brief stints in advertising, and in 1926 became an instructor on writing for publication. Holliday also published fifteen books, including ''The Walking-Stick Papers'' (1918), ''Men and Books and Cities'' (1920), ''Literary Lanes and Other Byways'' (1925), as well as volumes on Booth Tarkington and poet Joyce Kilmer (for whom he served as literary executor). He died on January 1, 1947, in

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

of heart disease.

Legacy

Writer and friend, Christopher Morley, wrote of Holliday: " ehas the genuine gift of the personal essay, mellow, fluent, and pleasantly eccentric." Sometime between 1920 and 1925, Robert Holliday signed ''

The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door (1920–25) separated the back office from the main area of Frank Shay's Bookshop in Greenwich Village from 1920 until 1925, where it served as an autograph book for nearly two hundred and fifty authors, artis ...

,'' an

autograph book An autograph book is a book for collecting the autographs of others. Traditionally they were exchanged among friends, colleagues, and classmates to fill with poems, drawings, personal messages, small pieces of verse, and other mementos. Their ...

of 242

bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

. The door is now held by the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, and his

signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...

can be found on front panel 2.

Bibliography

*Walking-Stick Papers (1918) *Booth Tarkington (1918) *Peeps at People (1919) *Broome Street Straws (1919) *Men and Books and Cities (1920) *Turns about Town (1921) *Literary Lanes and Other Byways (1925)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holliday, Robert Cortes 1880 births 1947 deaths Writers from Indiana American male essayists American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American essayists 20th-century American male writers