Nelson Doubleday

Nelson Doubleday (June 16, 1889 – January 11, 1949) was an American book publisher and president of Doubleday Company from 1922–1946. His father Frank Nelson Doubleday had founded the business. His son Nelson Doubleday Jr. followed him into it, taking part in expansion and serving as president from 1978–1986.

Early life and education Nelson Doubleday was born in Brooklyn, New York to Frank Nelson Doubleday (the first Doubleday ancestor came to Boston in the early 1600s from England) (the name Doubleday is English – possibly of Norman origin originally, DuBaldy ) and Neltje Blanchan. His older brother Felix Doty was adopted, and he had a younger sister Dorothy. In the city, the children attended a private Friends School run by Quakers. The family moved out to a large estate in Locust Valley on Long Island, called "Effendi" after their father's nickname given to him by his friend, the British author Rudyard Kipling. The author wrote his Just So Stories after the boy Nelson asked him to publish a book of animal stories.

Nelson grew up in the world of book publishing, as his father had founded the Doubleday company. His mother wrote several books about gardening and birds, which were considered notable for their combination of scientific content and lyrical expression.

Nelson later studied at Dr. Holbrook's Military School in Ossining, New York. He attended two years of New York University before joining his father in business, which he found more interesting. Even as a youth, he had creative solutions to business issues, for instance, suggesting selling dated magazines at a discount and thereby gaining some revenue from them.

Career Doubleday established his own business in 1910 and used the profits to publish books under his own imprint. After serving in World War I, he joined his father's firm, Doubleday, Page and Company, as a junior partner. After the firm merged with Doran Company, and upon his father's death in 1934, Nelson Doubleday became chairman of the board of Doubleday, Doran Company, Incorporated. He remained chairman of the firm (later Doubleday and Company) until his death in 1949. With some expansion, he still maintained Doubleday as a family publishing business, with one associated book club.

Marriage and family "Barberrys," Nelson Doubleday house, Mill Neck, New York, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1921. Architect: Harrie Thomas Lindberg (1916). Landscape: Percival Gallagher, Olmsted Brothers, 1919–1924 and others

He married Ellen McCarter (1899–1978).

Legacy and honors Ellen Doubleday left her collection of Doubleday business and personal documents to Princeton University. The Ellen McCarter Doubleday Papers, circa 1930s–1978 contain business and social correspondence, documents by and from Doubleday authors, personal and family letters, and issues related to Doubleday estates.