Seymour Eaton (May 7, 1859[1] – March 16, 1916) was a Canadian-born American author, journalist, editor, and publisher. He founded the Booklovers' Library in 1900 which became known as the world's largest circulating library,[2] and is credited with coining the name "Teddy bear".[3][4][5]
Seymour Eaton | |
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| Born | May 7, 1859 Grey County, OntarioGrey County, Canada West |
| Died | March 16, 1916 (aged 56) Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Pen name | Paul Piper |
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Born in the community of Epping in Grey County, Canada West, Eaton was educated in Canadian schools and taught in district schools for seven years. He became a resident of Boston in 1880, and from there went to Philadelphia in 1892.[6][4] Eaton founded, in the United States and Britain, the Booklovers' and Tabard Inn libraries.[7] For five years he was director of the Drexel Institute of Philadelphia. He was for five years a daily contributor to the Chicago Record and founded and edited the Booklovers' Magazine until it was merged into Appleton's Magazine. He wrote several college textbooks, the novel: Dan Black, Editor and Proprietor, and children's books The Roosevelt Bears and Prince Domino and Muffles, written under the pen name Paul Piper.[6][4]
Eaton married Jennie V. Adair in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on January 15, 1884. They had three sons: Frank, Jack, and Seymour Jr.[6][4][8] Eaton died at his home in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, aged 56.[6][4]
References
edit- ^ "Eaton, Seymour". Herringshaw's American Blue-book of Biography. American Publishers' Association. 1914. p. 332.
- ^ "Largest circulating library in the world". The Literary Digest. Vol. 24, no. 16. 1902. pp. 534–535.
- ^ Tamony, Peter (July 1974). "The Teddy Bear: Continuum in a Security Blanket". Western Folklore. 33 (3): 231–238. JSTOR 1498997.
- ^ a b c d e "'Teddybear' Creator Dead; Seymour Eaton, author, was noted for his newspaper promotion work" (PDF). The New York Times. March 14, 1916. p. 11.
- ^ "Seymour Eaton, noted bookman, dies of apoplexy". Evening Ledger. Philadelphia. March 13, 1916. p. 1+3.
- ^ a b c d "Death of Seymour Eaton". The Fourth Estate. March 18, 1916. p. 30.
- ^ Frank Luther Mott (1968). A History of American Magazines, Volume V. Harvard University Press. p. 27. ISBN 9780674395541.
- ^ "Eaton, Seymour". Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries. New York: L.R. Hamersly & Co. 1910. p. 549.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
External links
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Media related to Seymour Eaton at Wikimedia Commons- Works by or about Seymour Eaton at the Internet Archive
- Works by Seymour Eaton at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
