W. R. Scott

W. R. Scott was a pioneering children's literature publisher based in New York City that specialized in visually striking books with a contemporary educational philosophy. W. R. Scott's first editor was Margaret Wise Brown; the company also published a number of her books.

For the political economist, see W. R. Scott (economist).
W. R. Scott
Statusacquired by Addison-Wesley, c. 1972
Founded1938
FounderWilliam Rufus Scott
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters locationNew York City
Key peopleEthel McCullough Scott, John C. McCullough, Margaret Wise Brown[1]
Publication typesChildren's books
ImprintsYoung Scott Books

History

The company was founded in 1938 by William Rufus Scott (1911–1997),[1] who was assisted by his wife Ethel McCullough Scott, and her brother, John C. McCullough.[1]

With small children of their own, the Scotts had connections to the Bureau of Educational Experiments (later known as the Bank Street College of Education), which was promoting a new approach to children's education and literature, emphasizing the real world and the "here and now."[2] In keeping with the Bank Street philosophy,"[2] W. R. Scott's initial list included art books for the very young, poetry, essays, and reissues.[1]

The Scotts' link to Bank Street led them to Margaret Wise Brown, who worked at the Bank Street Experimental School and had just published her first children's book. Brown was hired as the company's first editor, and one of her first projects was to recruit contemporary authors to write children's books for the company. Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck neglected to respond, but Brown's hero Gertrude Stein[2] accepted the offer. Stein's book The World is Round,[3] was illustrated by Clement Hurd, who had previously teamed with Brown on W. R. Scott's Bumble Bugs and Elephants, considered "perhaps the first modern board book for babies."[4] (Brown and Hurd later teamed on the children's book classics The Runaway Bunny and Goodnight Moon, though they were released by a different publisher.)

In addition to publishing a number of her own books, under Brown's editorship W. R. Scott published Edith Thacher Hurd's first book, Hurry Hurry, and Esphyr Slobodkina's classic Caps for Sale.

In the 1960s most of the publisher's titles were released under the Young Scott Books imprint. W. R. Scott was acquired by Addison-Wesley c. 1972.[1] Most of W. R. Scott's titles went out of print, though some were re-issued by HarperCollins and Shoe String Press's imprint Linnet.[1]

Selected titles

Margaret Wise Brown
  • Bumble Bugs and Elephants: a Big and Little Book, illus. Clement Hurd (1938)
  • The Little Fireman, illus. Esphyr Slobodkina (1938)
  • The Noisy Book, illus. Leonard Weisgard (1939)[1]
  • The Country Noisy Book, illus. Leonard Weisgard (1940)
  • The Seashore Noisy Book, illus. Leonard Weisgard (1941)
  • The Indoor Noisy Book, illus. Leonard Weisgard (1942)
  • The Winter Noisy Book, illus. Charles Green Shaw (1947)
  • A Child's Good Night Book , illus. Jean Charlot (1944)
  • The Little Fisherman, illus. Dahlov Ipcar (1945)
  • The Man in the Manhole and the Fix-It Men, illus. Bill Ballantine (1946), written by Brown and Edith Thacher Hurd as "Juniper Sage", OCLC 1698467
  • The Little Cowboy, illus. Esphyr Slobodkina (1948)
  • The Little Farmer, illus. Esphyr Slobodkina (1948)
  • A Child's Good Morning Book, illus. Jean Charlot (1952)
  • Willie's Adventures: Three Stories, illus. Crockett Johnson (1954)
  • Nibble Nibble: Poems for Children, illus. Leonard Weisgard (1959)

Other authors

References
  1. Saxon, Wolfgang. "William Rufus Scott, 86, Pioneer In Children's Book Publishing," New York Times (July 25, 1997).
  2. Fernando, Anne E. "IN THE GREAT GREEN ROOM: MARGARET WISE BROWN AND MODERNISM," Public Books (November 17, 2015). Accessed May 2, 2016.
  3. Popova, Maria. "7 (More) Obscure Children’s Books by Famous “Adult” Lit Authors," BrainPickings (July 25, 2011).
  4. Leonard S. Marcus (1997). "Meet Clement Hurd". Enter the World of Margaret Wise Brown. HarperCollins Children's. Retrieved 2014-10-01. Apparently citing Marcus's book, Dear Genius, The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom.
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