William Henry Appleton
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William Henry Appleton (January 27, 1814 – October 19, 1899) was an American publisher, eldest son and successor of
Daniel Appleton Daniel Appleton (December 10, 1785 â€“ March 27, 1849) was an American publisher who founded D. Appleton & Co. Early life Daniel Appleton was born on December 10, 1785, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He was the son of Daniel Appleton (1750â ...
.


Early life

William Henry Appleton was born on January 27, 1814 at
Haverhill, Massachusetts Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located 35 miles north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about 17 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States Cen ...
. He was the eldest of eight children born to
Daniel Appleton Daniel Appleton (December 10, 1785 â€“ March 27, 1849) was an American publisher who founded D. Appleton & Co. Early life Daniel Appleton was born on December 10, 1785, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He was the son of Daniel Appleton (1750â ...
(1785–1849) and Hannah Adams (1791–1859), the daughter of John Adams and Dorcas Falkner.


Career

In 1838, Appleton he joined his father as a partner in the family publishing business, D. Appleton & Company, which he had begun clerking for in 1831 at the age of 16. In 1848, he became the senior member of D. Appleton & Company upon the retirement of his father. In partnership with his brother John Adams Appleton; they were joined in partnership by three younger brothers. In 1853, William became the firm's London representative. He was active in the struggle for an
international copyright While no creative work is automatically protected worldwide, there are international treaties which provide protection automatically for all creative works as soon as they are fixed in a medium. There are two primary international copyright agreem ...
, and served a term as president of the American Publishers Copyright League. His firm published works by a range of noteworthy authors, including Hall Caine, Lewis Carroll,
Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 â€“ 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 ...
, Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley, Herbert Spencer, and
John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...
, as well as leading American scientists and philosophers of his era. Among the reference books brought out by him were ''
The New American Cyclopædia ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (1858–63); ''Webster's Spelling Book''; '' Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography'' (1887–1900), ''Applied Mechanics'' (1897), and an ''Annual Cyclopœdia'' (1885–1903). He wrote ''Letters on International Copyright'' (1872).


Personal life

On April 16, 1844, he married Mary Moody Worthen (1824–1884), a daughter of Ezra Worthen and sister of
William Ezra Worthen William Ezra Worthen (March 14, 1819 – April 2, 1897) was a Harvard-educated American civil engineer. He was President of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1887, and elected an Honorary Member in 1898. Biography William E. Worthen ...
. * William Worthen Appleton (1845–1924), who married Anna Debois Sargent (1845–1908). * Kate Appleton (1848–1873), who married Hobart Seymour Geary (1838–1918), a merchant, in 1872. * Mary Appleton (d. 1934), who died unmarried. * Henry Cozzens Appleton (1863–1925), who married Dora Threlkeld (1847–1927). Appleton was a prominent figure in publishing for a period of sixty years. He lived at
Wave Hill (New York) Wave Hill is a estate in the Hudson Hill section of Riverdale in the Bronx, New York City. Wave Hill currently consists of public horticultural gardens and a cultural center, all situated on the slopes overlooking the Hudson River, with exp ...
; the house was later turned into a botanical garden in the Riverdale section of The Bronx, New York. He was one of the earliest members of the
Century Association The Century Association is a private social, arts, and dining club in New York City, founded in 1847. Its clubhouse is located at 7 West 43rd Street near Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It is primarily a club for men and women with distinction ...
, joining in 1847, a member of the
Union Club of New York Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** '' ...
, the Riding Club, and the Aldine and Players' Clubs. He died at his home in Riverdale on October 19, 1899. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.


Descendants

His grandson, through his son William, was William Henry Appleton (1866–1951), a prominent yachtsman who married Noel Johnston, granddaughter of John Taylor Johnston, former president of the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the founding president of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.


Legacy

Appleton City, Missouri Appleton City is a city in St. Clair County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,032 as of the 2020 census. It is the largest city in St. Clair County. History Appleton City was originally called Arlington, and under the latter name wa ...
was named after the publisher, in appreciation of his 1870 donation to the town's library.


In popular culture

Appleton is a character in the time travel novel '' The Plot to Save Socrates'' by Paul Levinson. As depicted in the book, Appleton had an extensive secret life as a time-traveler, had visited
Classical Greece Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in Ancient Greece,The "Classical Age" is "the modern designation of the period from about 500 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C." ( Thomas R. Marti ...
and met in person some of the famous ancient Greek writers and philosophers whose works he published, and also several times visited the 21st century – but always found his own 19th century milieu to be the most congenial.


References

;Notes ;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, William Henry 1814 births 1899 deaths Appleton family American book publishers (people) People from Haverhill, Massachusetts People from Riverdale, Bronx 19th-century American businesspeople