Alfred Harcourt was an American publisher. He was a co-founder of Harcourt, Brace & Howe publishing firm.
Background
Alfred Harcourt was born on January 31, 1881 in New Paltz, New York. He was the son of Charles M. and Gertrude Elting Harcourt. His father was a poor farmer who earned his living by selling vegetables and fruit in local markets as well as in New York City.
When Alfred was nine years old, he was kept home for a year because of an illness the local doctor called "boredom. " To occupy his time he began to read what books were available and thus developed a lifelong interest in the written word. In his thirteenth year he began to help his father market his produce.
Education
Harcourt was eager for an education. He attended New Paltz State Normal School and Columbia College. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia in 1904.
Career
Harcourt was employed by Henry Holt and Company to sell and edit books intended for the general public. Although Holt was already past his prime as an eminent publisher, Harcourt found, as he later stated, that "the fearlessness was still there, the highest business principles, and an uncompromising loyalty to quality. " These traits Harcourt later sought to emulate in his own career as a publisher.
In 1910 Holt went into semiretirement and made Harcourt director of his company's trade (general literature) department. Thereafter Harcourt took seasonal trips abroad in quest of manuscripts. In time he attracted a notable list of British and American authors - all having the approval of Holt.
After World War I ended in 1918, Harcourt became the first American publisher to go to England, taking the boat three weeks after the Armistice. Among the books he accepted was Bertrand Russell's Roads to Freedom, a study of several revolutionary philosophies. When Holt and his associates received the news, they were shocked - Russell's pacifism and his imprisonment as a conscientious objector had made him notorious, and the book appeared to them to contain "dangerous doctrine. "
Upon his return to New York, Harcourt learned that the firm had canceled the contract by cable. It was only when he pointed out to Holt that he had committed the firm to publication that the conservative but principled publisher agreed to rescind the rejection and to have the book appear under the amended title Proposed Roads to Freedom. Contrary to the firm's expectations, the book sold well. Harcourt now realized that with Holt in his eightieth year and with E. N. Bristol, the textbook manager and vice-president, favored to succeed him, his place in the firm was no longer as advantageous as it had seemed. He therefore resigned.
While still undecided as to his next step, his friend Sinclair Lewis urged him to form his own company. At the time Lewis had been under contract to Holt for his next book, which was to be Main Street; at Harcourt's instigation he managed to obtain his release from Holt. Harcourt in the meantime organized his own publishing house with Donald Brace, also of Holt, and Will Howe, a teacher. The company was incorporated on July 29, 1919, as Harcourt, Brace and Howe. When Howe left the firm in 1920, the name was changed to Harcourt, Brace and Company. Like other leading editors who readily became intimate with their authors, Harcourt, on leaving Holt, was able to persuade a number of major Holt authors to go with him. These included Walter Lippmann, Carl Sandburg, Louis Untermeyer, Joel Spingarn, and Dorothy Canfield Fisher; Robert Frost, however, decided to remain with Holt in order to keep all his volumes with one publisher. Certain of these authors became Harcourt's advisers, and Spingarn invested money in the firm.
The happy results came quickly. One early summer day Lippmann telephoned to say that Felix Frankfurter, who had just returned from the Versailles Peace Conference, had spoken highly of a book written by John Maynard Keynes, a young British economist. Harcourt immediately cabled for the American rights to The Economic Consequences of the Peace. As soon as he was able, Harcourt sailed for England to get other new books. Bertrand Russell, aware that Harcourt had left Holt largely on his account, exerted himself to introduce him to Bloomsbury authors. Keynes also helped. Consequently the Harcourt firm soon published Lytton Strachey's Queen Victoria and other popular as well as scholarly books by British authors. Concurrently, in emulation of the Holt company, Harcourt started a textbook department, first under Howe and, after Howe left in 1920, under Spencer Scott. In time the textbook business accounted for a major part of the company's income, thereby serving as an economic stabilizer for the unavoidable fluctuation in the trade department.
Harcourt published Main Street in 1920, and Lewis' other best-selling novels appeared during that decade. The promotion of these books, according to Publishers Weekly, "has been looked upon as one of the outstanding examples of finely conceived and well-executed book publishing. "
For all their long and close friendship, however, Harcourt in time found Lewis' excessive drinking and rudeness highly disagreeable, and when Harcourt did not react to the award of the Nobel Prize with the promotional advertising Lewis had expected, a rupture became inevitable. Lewis accused him of no longer being interested in his books and of not having promoted them "energetically" enough.
Throughout his career Harcourt continued to publish books that caught and held public attention. His firm soon established itself as one of the major publishing houses in New York, with yearly lists of books of high quality. The company was able to maintain this position despite internal dissension and numerous resignations. One of the underlying causes of conflict was Harcourt's insistence on grooming his son, Hastings, to succeed him as head of the firm. Since the other members of the firm owned 62 percent of the company's stock and had a low opinion of Hastings' ability, Harcourt's behavior led to irritations, resentments, and finally to confrontations, resulting in Harcourt's resignation from the presidency in 1942. He soon moved to California, but he remained a director and special consultant.
For a time, after Scott succeeded the ailing Brace to the presidency in 1948, Harcourt returned to the company on a part-time basis. A recurring cancer forced his complete retirement from the firm in 1953. He died in Santa Barbara, California.
Achievements
Alfred Harcourt has been listed as a noteworthy publisher by Marquis Who's Who.
While Harcourt was at school he became a member of the Delphic Fraternity.
Personality
Harcourt was known for his remarkable breadth of view and a keen feeling for literary merit.
Connections
Harcourt married Susan Harreus in 1906.
Harcourt, uneasy about his wife's suicide in 1923, married the following year to his devoted secretary, Ellen Knowles Eayrs. She founded the Alfred Harcourt Foundation in 1962.
