Seymour Eaton

Seymour Eaton
Born(1859-05-07)May 7, 1859
Grey County, OntarioGrey County, Canada West
DiedMarch 16, 1916(1916-03-16) (aged 56)
Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, United States
Pen namePaul Piper
Signature

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]

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]

  1. ^ "Eaton, Seymour". Herringshaw's American Blue-book of Biography. American Publishers' Association. 1914. p. 332.
  2. ^ "Largest circulating library in the world". The Literary Digest. Vol. 24, no. 16. 1902. pp. 534–535.
  3. ^ Tamony, Peter (July 1974). "The Teddy Bear: Continuum in a Security Blanket". Western Folklore. 33 (3): 231–238. JSTOR 1498997.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "Seymour Eaton, noted bookman, dies of apoplexy". Evening Ledger. Philadelphia. March 13, 1916. p. 1+3.
  6. ^ a b c d "Death of Seymour Eaton". The Fourth Estate. March 18, 1916. p. 30.
  7. ^ Frank Luther Mott (1968). A History of American Magazines, Volume V. Harvard University Press. p. 27. ISBN 9780674395541.
  8. ^ "Eaton, Seymour". Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries. New York: L.R. Hamersly & Co. 1910. p. 549.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.