Background
Edward Livermore Burlingame was born on May 30, 1848 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, the son of Anson Burlingame, United States minister to China, and Jane Cornelia (Livermore) Burlingame.
In 1869 he earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Heidelberg.
Edward had been attending classes at Harvard University, but he discontinued his education at the prestigious university to serve as his father's private secretary.
Edward had been attending classes at Harvard University, but he discontinued his education at the prestigious university to serve as his father's private secretary.
In 1869 he earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Heidelberg.
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Edward Livermore Burlingame was born on May 30, 1848 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, the son of Anson Burlingame, United States minister to China, and Jane Cornelia (Livermore) Burlingame.
Although only thirteen years old at the time, Edward had been attending classes at Harvard University, but he discontinued his education at the prestigious university to serve as his father's private secretary. Together, the pair traveled extensively, and the world became young Edward's classroom. He met internationally acclaimed artists, political figures, and writers, and he absorbed culture, diversity, and information thoroughly. He learned to speak both French and German fluently, and studied in Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg.
In 1869 Edward earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Heidelberg, thus completing a life's curriculum that provided the foundation for his aspirations that were to become his life's work.
The responsibilities of family life compelled him to find steady employment, so he searched for his professional niche for most of the decade. For a year Edward worked as part of the editorial staff of the New York Tribune; then he spent four years helping to revise an encyclopedia. Motivated by his passion for the music of German composer Richard Wagner, Burlingame spent nearly a year selecting from and translating a volume of the composer's writings. This endeavor was published in 1875 as Art Life und Theories of Richard Wagner. In 1879, Charles Scribner's Sons hired him as a book editor, a position in which he excelled for the next seven years.
Having impressed his employer thoroughly, in 1886 Scribner's asked Burlingame if he would be the editor of a literary magazine that was in the works. Apparently, according to a previous business deal from 1881 in which a different company had purchased the rights to Scribner's Monthly, Scribner's had not been allowed to publish another magazine for five years. Even though Scribner's Magazine came out six years later, the publisher had a difficult time convincing people that there was no affiliation or attempt to ride on the coattails of the established monthly. By making Burlingame editor, the publisher placed the magazine's content under the auspices of someone outside of the Scribner family.
Burlingame was smart and self-sufficient in his editing and selection process, trusting his own judgment over previously established reputation or prestige. He made consistent efforts to treat each submission fairly and equally critically, despite the writer's or artist's literary history, or lack thereof. The first issue came out in January, 1887, and it sported a simple signature cover designed by an architect that was retrospectively referred to by Time magazine as the "ugly yellow cover,'' according to Patt Foster Roberson in the Dictionary of Literary Biography. There were 128 pages of text in each issue, and all the featured essays, poetry, articles, serials and works of fiction were accompanied with illustrations, which were black and white at first, but later were exhibited in four colors.
Although other magazines vying for the same well-read audience sold for thirty-five cents per copy, or four dollars a year, Scribner's Magazine was priced at twentyfive cents per copy, or three dollars a year. This was a marketing strategy set by Burlingame, and it gave the new monthly a competitive edge that otherwise might have taken longer to achieve. One critic, according to Roberson, said that the magazine "had been born full grown," as the first issue sold 140,000 copies, grossing
$7,400. Aside from the lower price, Burlingame was meticulous about the publication's contents, treating each issue as its own stellar entity. He did not lower the bar to entice a broader audience, but rather demanded his own high standards and invited readers to enjoy a sometimes eclectic, always unpredictable collection of art, literature, and original pieces gathered from the best talent Burlingame could discover or lure to the magazine. He absolutely refused to publish anything that had appeared elsewhere. The only way he would print excerpts from books would be if his team had been successful in making a deal with the publishers before the book was released. Sometimes, this allowed for entire books to be serialized in the magazine before they were published in book form.
Burlingame made it a point to seek out new talent - often single-handedly through his travels or his literary experience - and pay more than the going rate to secure what he considered to be the highest quality work. The high pay was especially true by foreign standards, and international contributors worked hard to deliver their best work. Roberson stated that "by combining a payment on articles with advances and percentages on book rights, Burlingame was able to secure some of the best writers of the time." Among some of the magazine's most famous contributors were Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Sarah Orne Jewett, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Edith Wharton. However, newcomers were welcome and encouraged, as long as their work met Burlingame's high standards. Burlingame's aim was to offer "a magazine of good literature in the widest sense."
Clearly, Burlingame's talents and efforts reaped appropriate accolades and results, as evidenced by its successful run among America's best periodicals.
Burlingame was extraordinarily distrusting and critical of news reporting, and was known to send his own reporters out to determine the "truth" behind seemingly biased news items that had been pushed by the media into the mainstream consciousness. He had international as well as domestic connections, corresponding regularly with E. B. Washburne, the foreign minister to France, and Joel Chandler Harris of the Atlantic Constitution, among others. Truth and accuracy were priorities, and he once again paid liberally when enlisting professionals to investigate questionable headlines or news accounts. Burlingame began writing his own column in 1890 titled "The Point of View," which appeared at the end of each magazine. True to the diversity embodied in the magazine, he wrote editorials on a wide variety of social, literary, or personally influenced thoughts or subjects.
Even after his retirement in 1914, Burlingame continued to influence the publication by serving on the board of directors and as the editorial advisor to the publishing house.
He died in New York City on November 15, 1922.
Edward was a member of Century Club (New York City).
Burlingame was strong, confident, and unapologetic in his opinions, and relished the opportunity to express his views of the world, both grand and seemingly insignificant.
In 1871, Burlingame married Ella Frances Badger, with whom he eventually had four children.
