Background
Starting work at the age of 14 after his father"s business failed, Doubleday began with Charles Scribner"s Sons in New New York Frank Doubleday was a native of Brooklyn, New York, the son of a hatter and his wife.
Starting work at the age of 14 after his father"s business failed, Doubleday began with Charles Scribner"s Sons in New New York Frank Doubleday was a native of Brooklyn, New York, the son of a hatter and his wife.
Educated Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.
Early in life, he became fascinated with the printing business. By the age of ten, he had saved up enough money to buy his own printing press He earned back the cost by printing advertising and news circulars for local businesses, and from that point never left the business.
When Doubleday was 14, his father"s business failed.
The youth had to leave school and find a full-time job. He went to work at the firm of Charles Scribner"s Sons in Manhattan for the salary of $3 a week.
Doubleday worked 18 years at Scribner"s, eventually rising to become the publisher of Scribner"s Magazine and head of Scribner"s subscription book department. When his relationship with Scribner"s soured, Doubleday left the company to go into partnership with Samuel South. McClure, publisher of McClure"s Magazine.
They formed the Doubleday & McClure Company in March 1897.
The following year, Doubleday and McClure accepted a contract to manage the great publishing house of Harper & Brothers, at the instigation of their banker, J. Pierpont Morgan. On taking control, Doubleday dug thoroughly through Harper"s books and decided that the company"s finances were in a shambles. He convinced McClure and Morgan to call off the deal.
(Harper had gone heavily into debt in the Panic of 1893, and the extension of copyright to foreign authors in 1891 put a large dent in Harper"s principal business, the cheap domestic reprints of respected foreign authors) On December 31, 1899, growing tension between Doubleday and McClure led the two men to dissolve their partnership.
The following year, Doubleday invited Walter Hines Page, former editor of The Atlantic Monthly, to join him. The new firm was Doubleday, Page & Company
In 1921, Doubleday bought a controlling interest in the English publisher William Heinemann, after Heinemann died unexpectedly without leaving an heir. In 1927, Doubleday purchased the publishing house of George H. Doran, and his company became Doubleday, Doran & Company
An anglophile, Frank Doubleday spent many working vacations in England exploring authors and publishers for United States. editions.
His nickname "Effendi" was given to him by Rudyard Kipling, who derived it from his initials, F.N.D.
Member Doubleday & McClure Company, publications, 1897-1900.
Married Neltje De Graff, June 9, 1886 (died 1918). Married second, Florence Van Wyck, November 27, 1918.