THE LATE MR. HORACE EVERETT HOOPER. [To THE EDITOR OP
THE " SPECTATOR.") Sin,—The death of the late Mr. Horaee Everett Hooper on June 13th last came not only as a great shock, but as an irreparable loss to those who knew him well and worked with him long. He had come to England as a comparatively young man in 1897 with a successful record in the United States as a publisher and salesman. In partnership with Mr. Walter Jackson, he arranged with Messrs. A. and C. Black, the proprietors, •for the sale of a reprint of the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which had been issued in twenty- five volumes between 1875 and 1889. Shortly afterwards, purchasing the copyright, he entered into an arrangement with the Times under which the latter should publish this reprint at about half the original price, introducing what was at that time a novel and attractive inducement to purchasers, namely, the deferred payment system, which did much to widen the field of sale. Later, Mr. Hooper arranged with the Times for the preparation of a supplement of ten volumes, which, on their completion in 1902, in conjunction with the previous twenty- five, formed the tenth edition.
In 1903 preparations for the eleventh edition were started for
Mr. Hooper at Printing House Square, and during this time Mr. Hooper's relations with the Times grew more closely allied. He took an intimate part in the business management of the paper, and it was at his instigation and under his personal direction that the Times Book Club was formed. In 1907 Jfr. Hooper dissolved his partnership with Mr. Jackson, and assumed the entire control of the Encyclopaedia Britannica Company. But a year later, ea the passing of the chief proprietorship into Lord Northcliffe's hands, his connexion with the Times was brought to an end; and Mr. Hooper then arranged that the eleventh edition, which was completed in 1910, should be published by the Cambridge University Press. .A supplement in three new volumes, carrying forward the eleventh into a twelfth edition, was eventually taken in hand, through his initiative, in 1920, and the last two years of his life mere devoted to pushing forward its completion in the spring of this year. It is the crowning sorrow to 'his intimates and admirers that Mr. Hooper did not live to see the publication of the three supplementary volumes, which are now in course of distribution.
A New York paper has characterized Mr. Hooper as one of
the few successful practical idealists of the world. Early in life he set up education as his ideal, and he took the Encyclopaedia Britannica as his means to this end. The success with which he applied his energies to this object is proof alone of his idealistic genius. Before he became the proprietor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica it had been regarded by its publishers as a work that could only be acquired for reference purposes by people of substantial means. But the desire for education has spread rapidly in the last two decades, and it is significant that at the present time the Britannica is in many thousands of homes where years ago its ownership was not thought practicable. Mr. Hooper's first step in enlarging the circulation of the Encyclopaedia Britannica was its reduc- tion in price and the method of payment by instalments. In the production of the eleventh edition he introduced a com- plebe novelty by the use of India paper, which had the valuable result of reducing what would otherwise have been over-bulky volumes to a size easily held in the hand. A still further improvement made in later years was the half-size volumes, named the " Handy Volumes." This issue, in which the size of the print was reduced by an ingenious method of electro- photography, brought about a still further reduction in price and a corresponding advance in utility and popularity. He was throughout intent on having the standard of scholarship and authority, so long associated with the Britannica, main- tained and, so far as possible, even advanced in its later editions. He supplied the financial resources by which this was done, under the editorship of Mr. Hugh Chisholm, from 1900 till the present time; but the business management, the advertising and the selling of the work remained under his own highly efficient control.
Both during his lifetime and at his death the Press frequently referred to Mr. Hooper as the " Napoleon of Publishers," and rarely has a title so conferred been more richly deserved. His brilliant genius and imagination were coupled with an illimit- able store of optimism in regard to the enterprises with which he was connected. An American of English descent on both sides of his family he managed to combine American ingenuity with English pertinacity. It is the opinion of many that Mr. Hooper's success lay in his boldness and " dash " as an adver- tiser and a salesman, but the truth lies more in his immutable faith in the intelligent ambition for education of the great mass of the people. Many well-known professional educators have done less for the enlightenment of the world, and he leaves behind him a finer monument than many of us could wish for in the work to which he devoted his life.—I am, Sir, x.
[It is a great pleasure to us to publish this just and reticent appreciation of Mr. Hooper's work. We are especially glad to see his zeal for education emphasized, for that was the central aspiration of his mind. He was a warm, unswerving and true friend of this country—or, as we should prefer to put it, he recognized the paramount unity of the English-speaking race. —ED. Spectator.]
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