Edward W. Bok

Edward William Bok, American editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, was born on October 9, 1863, in Den Helder, The Netherlands. At the age of six, he immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, USA, and became an office boy with the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1876. In 1882, he began work with Henry Holt and Company, and then, in 1884, he became involved with Charles Scribner's Sons, where he eventually became its advertising manager. From 1884 until 1887, Bok was the editor of "The Brooklyn Magazine," and in 1886, he founded The Bok Syndicate Press.

After moving to Philadelphia in 1889, he obtained the editorship of "Ladies Home Journal", when its founder and editor, Louisa Knapp Curtis, stepped down to a less intense role at the popular, nationally-circulated publication. It was published by Cyrus Curtis, who had an established publishing empire that included many newspapers and magazines.

In 1896 Bok married Mary L. Curtis, the daughter of Louisa and Cyrus Curtis. [cite book| last = Hamersly| first = Lewis R. | title = Who's who in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries | publisher = L.R. Hamersly & Co.
date = 1904| pages = 66| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=HFADAAAAYAAJ&dq=cyrus+curtis&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0] She shared her family's interest in music, cultural activities, and philanthropy and was very active in social circles.

During his editorship, the journal became the first magazine in the world to have one million subscribers and it became very influential among readers by featuring informative and progressive ideas in its articles. The magazine focused upon the social issues of the day. It also became the first magazine to refuse patent medicine advertisments. [ [http://www.bartleby.com/197/30.html 30. Cleaning Up the Patent-Medicine and Other Evils. Bok, Edward William. 1921. The Americanization of Edward Bok ] ] In 1919, after thirty years at the journal, Bok retired.

In 1924 Mary Louise Bok founded the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, which she dedicated to her father, Cyrus Curtis, and in 1927, the Boks embarked upon the construction of Bok Tower Gardens, near their winter home in Lake Wales, Florida, which was dedicated on February 1, 1929 by the president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge. Bok Tower sometimes is called a sanctuary and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Landmark. Edward W. Bok died in 1930.

Bok is credited with coining the term, "living room", to replace the word, "parlor", which had been used for the formal reception and sitting room in houses for some time and which was undergoing a cultural change to a room used less formally.

His 1920 autobiography, "The Americanization of Edward Bok", won the Gold Medal of the Academy of Political and Social Science and the Pulitzer Prize for best autobiography.

Published works

*"Successward" (1895)
*"The Young Man & The Church" (1896)
*"Her Brother's Letters" (1906)
*"Why I Believe in Poverty" (1915)
*"The Americanization of Edward Bok" (1920)
*"A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After", edited by John Louis Haney (1921)
*"Two Persons" (1922)
*"A Man from Maine" (1923)
*"Twice Thirty" (1925)
*"Dollars Only" (1926)
*"You: A Personal Message" (1926)
*"America Give Me a Chance" (1926)
*"Perhaps I Am" (1928)

Trivia

Bok is used as an example in Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People." He appears in Part Two, Chapter 4 ("How to Become a Good Conversationalist").

References

External links

*gutenberg author | id=Edward_William_Bok | name=Edward William Bok
* [http://www.accuracyproject.org/cbe-Bok,Edward.html Edward Bok] profile at Internet Accuracy Project
* [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015010358789 "Successward" (1895)] full text digitized online version from the University of Michigan Library MBooks.