The Washington herald., 1915-02-15
HISTORY BUILDERS.
The Harper Brother Who Was an Ex-
pert Proofreader.
Written Expressly for The Washington HcraldJ
BY DIR. f.. j. EDWARDS.

RCIt ] IOOllCooCi.
Written Expressly for The Washington Hcrald.)
BY DIR. f.. j. EDWARDS.
1t was the opinion of George Will
i in the United States, however scholar
| ly. however learned in the litera-
| ture of England. who had such a
profound knowledge of English clas-
sizes as Joseph Wesley Harper pos
sessed. Mr.. Curtis used to say that
as MIR. Harper never made a display
of his knowledge and was. in fact.
one of the most modest of men. there
, were few persons who knew how
complete his mastery of the classics
of English literature was. Some
| times Mr.. Curtis used to find gentle
amusement in asking his friends how
it happened that so busy a man as
Mr.. Harper was. SO thoroughly occu-
pied with the affairs of the great
publishing house as il was in his
day. SO eminently practical a man.
could have gained a knowledge of
English literature. especially of the
classics. which was surpassed proba-
bly, by that of no other American.
Joseph Wesley Harper became a
printers apprentice when he was a
young man and he was thorough
, master of the printers trade when
he entered into association with his
brothers who had founded what be-
came the great publishing house of
Harper and Brothers. Mr.. Harper
was such a master of the technical
side of printing that he was not only
very rapid compositor. but also an
unusually accurate one. For that rea-
son. he became known as probably
the most expert proofreader in New
York.
Mr.. Curtis used to say that there
was no drudgery for an author that
compared with the labor which the
reading of his proof entailed There
Wee some well-known authors who
could not be relied upon to read the
proofs thoroughly. The late Amos
j. Cummings. who served several
years in Congress and was earlier
managing editor of the New York
Sun. was for some time the head
proofreader in the Office of the New
York Tribune. and he used to say to
his friends that he never at any time
found proofreading irksome but that
for him the reading of proofs was as
good training as he could have OBJ
tanned at college.
That was exactly the feeling Jo-
seph Wesley Harper had when proof
sheets were laid before him. He ac-
tually loved to read proofs and nav
ing read them once for correction and
again for revision, he read them a
third time for instruction. His house
undertook. shortly after he was assoc
ciated with 1t. to publish editions of
great English classics at prices which
would bring them within the reach of
those of moderate income. All the
proof sheets of these classics passed
under Joseph Harper's eyes. He read
them with keenest pleasure and with
Underwriting patience, so that he might
discover error. Having done this he
read them again, and in that way his
mind became saturated with the Eng
lish classics. and as he had a reten-
tive memory he never forgot what he
had read in the proof sheets.
II was in that way that Joseph
Wesley Harper became the most
learned American with respect to the
English classics.
Copyright. 1915, by T.. J. Edwards. All rights IT.
serTed.l
Tomorrow DIR. Edwards will tell of
AN Unknown Benefactor of Uncle
Sam"