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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] James Harper Biography HARPER, James (1795–1869). An American publisher, born at Newtown, L. I. In 1811 he removed with his brother John (1797–1875) to New York, where they learned the trade of printing and established the firm of J. and J. Harper, printing for booksellers and publishers. James Harper was said to be the quickest and best pressman in New York City, and the proof reading of John Harper had an equal reputation. They published on their own account from 1818 to 1833, when with two younger brothers, Joseph Wesley (1801–70) and Fletcher (1806–77), they formed the firm of Harper and Brothers. The keen business sagacity and sterling honesty of James Harper soon made the firm one of the largest and most respected publishing houses in the United States. He was notably successful with series of books grouped into so-called "libraries," covering topics ranging from juvenile fiction to the classics, and founded Harper's Magazine in 1850, which with the two publications suggested by Fletcher Harper— Harper's Weekly, established in 1857, and Harper's Bazar, established 10 years later—soon took high rank in the field of periodical literature. The series was supplemented in 1881 by Harper's Young People, afterward called Harper's Round Table. In 1913 Harper's Weekly was sold, and the Bazar had already changed hands. From 1844 to 1846 James Harper was mayor of New York City and was subsequently suggested for State Governor, but his distaste for public life led him to discountenance all efforts in his behalf. In March, 1869, he was thrown from a carriage and killed, and for many years after his death the business of the firm was conducted by younger members of the family. After the failure of the firm in 1899 it was entirely reorganized as a stock corporation, George Harvey (q.v.) becoming president in 1900. Consult J. H. Harper, The House of Harper (New York, 1912). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. X (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 715.
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