The Americanization of Edward Bok

"Pray ask him," Bok suggested to the interpreter, "what assurance I have that he will deliver the manuscript to me after he has the money." The…

This was granted; and then, as in the case of Kate Greenaway, Rosa Bonheur herself walked into the hall, in a velvet jacket, dressed, as she always…

On his return to London the editor found that Charles Dana Gibson had settled down there for a time. Bok had always wanted Gibson to depict the…

But the traveller was not at once to enjoy his home. After only a day in Philadelphia he took a train for Indianapolis. Here lived the most…

A second series of articles was also arranged for with Mr. Harrison, in which he was to depict, in a personal way, the life of a President of the…

Bok now devoted his attention to strengthening the fiction in his magazine. He sought Mark Twain, and bought his two new stories; he secured from…

He next turned for a moment to his religious department, decided that it needed a freshening of interest, and secured Dwight L. Moody, whose…

The authors for whom the Journal was now publishing attracted the attention of all the writers of the day, and the supply of good material became too…

At once Bok saw that this was an instance where "necessity was the mother of invention." He realized that if he could run some of his front…

In the next issue he combined some of his smaller departments in the back; and thus, in 1896, he inaugurated the method of "running over into the…

In his reading about the America of the past, Bok had been impressed by the unusual amount of interesting personal material that constituted what…

He also believed that if he could "dress up" the past, he could arrest the attention of a generation which was too likely to boast of its interest…

Mr. Dana agreed with this view, supplemented every effort of the Philadelphia editor in several subsequent talks, and in 1897 The Ladies' Home…

The influence of his grandfather and the injunction of his grandmother to her sons that each "should make the world a better or a more beautiful…

An opportunity now came to Mr. Curtis to purchase The Saturday Evening Post, a Philadelphia weekly of honored prestige, founded by Benjamin Franklin.…

Mr. Frank Doubleday, having left the Scribners and started a publishing-house of his own, asked Bok to transfer to him the copyright and good will of…

Bok now turned to The Ladies' Home Journal as his medium for making the small-house architecture of America better. He realized the limitation of…

Bok saw that he should have to blaze the way and demonstrate the futility of these arguments. At last he persuaded one architect to co-operate with…

Bok not only saw an opportunity to better the exterior of the small houses, but he determined that each plan published should provide for two…

"Ladies' Home Journal houses" were now going up in communities all over the country, and Bok determined to prove that they could be erected for the…

For nearly twenty-five years Bok continued to publish pictures of houses and plans. Entire colonies of "Ladies' Home Journal houses" have sprung up,…

It was one of the most constructive and far-reaching pieces of work that Bok did during his editorial career--a fact now recognized by all architects…

Bok then turned to the subject of the garden for the small house, and the development of the grounds around the homes which he had been…

Next the editor decided to see what he could do for the better and simpler furnishing of the small American home. Here was a field almost limitless…

The editor followed this up with another successful series, again pictorial. He realized that to explain good taste in furnishing by text was…

The lesson to the eye was simply and directly effective; the pictures told their story as no printed word could have done, and furniture…

Pictures were difficult to advertise successfully; it was before the full-color press had become practicable for rapid magazine work; and even the…

His success here induced Bok to take the collection to New York. The galleries of the American Art Association were offered him, but he decided to…

The hotel authorities had to resort to a special cordon of police to handle the crowds, and within four days over seventeen thousand persons had seen…

Other cities now clamored for a sight of the pictures, and it was finally decided to end the exhibitions by a visit to Chicago. The success here…

Bok's next enterprise was to get his pictures into the homes of the country on a larger scale; he determined to work through the churches. He…

But all this was simply to lead up to the realization of Bok's cherished dream: the reproduction, in enormous numbers, of the greatest pictures in…

It was not until years later that his opportunity came, when he immediately made up his mind to seize it. The magazine had installed a battery of…

Although each felt doubtful of the ability of any process adequately to reproduce their masterpieces, the owners heartily co-operated with Bok. But…

The most wonderful Rembrandt, Velasquez, Turner, Hobbema, Van Dyck, Raphael, Frans Hals, Romney, Gainsborough, Whistler, Corot, Mauve, Vermeer,…

It was a peculiar satisfaction to Bok that Theodore Roosevelt once summed up this piece of work in these words: "Bok is the only man I ever heard…

He was surprised, on talking with furnishers of homes, to learn to what extent women whose husbands had recently acquired means would refer to…

For in those days, twenty years ago, the decoration of the Pullman parlor-car was atrocious. Colors were in riotous discord; every foot of…

Bok wrote an editorial calling attention to these facts. The Pullman Company paid no attention to it, but the railroad journals did. With one…

The president of a large Western railroad wrote to Bok that he agreed absolutely with his position, and asked whether he had any definite suggestions…

The first change came when a new dining-car on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad suddenly appeared. It was an artistically treated Flemish-…

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad now followed suit by introducing a new Pullman chair-car. The hideous and germ-laden plush or velvet…

The Pullman people now saw the drift, and wisely reorganized their decorative department. Only those who remember the Pullman parlor-car of twenty…

It was only a step from the Pullman car to the landscape outside, and Bok next decided to see what he could do toward eliminating the hideous…

Page after page appeared in the magazine, and after a few months these roused public discussion as to legal control of this class of advertising. Bok…

Bok now called upon his readers in general to help by offering a series of prizes totalling several thousands of dollars for two photographs, one…

While Bok did not solve the problem of bill-board advertising, and while in some parts of the country it is a more flagrant nuisance to-day than ever…

Of course the advertisers whose signs were shown in the magazine immediately threatened the withdrawal of their accounts from The Ladies' Home…

In their travels about, Mr. McFarland and Bok began to note the disreputably untidy spots which various municipalities allowed in the closest…

Lynn, Massachusetts, was the initial city chosen, a number of photographs were taken, and the first of a series of "Dirty Cities" was begun in the…

Trenton, New Jersey, was the next example, and the same storm of public resentment broke loose--with exactly the same beneficial results in the end…

Memphis, Tennessee, came next, but here a different spirit was met. Although some resentment was expressed, the general feeling was that a service…

It was an interesting experiment in photographic civics. The pity of it is that more has not been done along this and similar lines.

The time now came when Bok could demonstrate the willingness of his own publishing company to do what it could to elevate the public taste in art.…

Bok strongly believed that good art should find a place in public buildings where large numbers of persons might find easy access to it. The…

The great public dining-room, seating over seven hundred persons, on the top floor of the building, affording unusual lighting facilities, was…

For over a year he made sketches, and finally the theme was decided upon: a bevy of youths and maidens in gala costume, on their way through…

The great wall space of over one thousand square feet, unobstructed by a single column, in the main foyer of the building was decided upon as the…

Poor Abbey! His life had been made so tortuous by suggestions, ideas, yes, demands made upon him in the work of the Harrisburg panels upon which he…

Abbey and his wife were now like two happy children. Mrs. Abbey fetched the sketches which her husband had begun years ago, and when Bok saw them…