Douglas Black (publisher)
{{Short description|American lawyer and publishing executive (1895–1977)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}{{Use American English|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Douglas Black
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Douglas McCrae Black
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1895|07|25}}
| birth_place = Queens, New York, New York, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1977|05|15|1895|07|25}}
| death_place =
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| alma_mater = Columbia University
| occupation = Lawyer and publishing house executive
| known_for = President of Doubleday and Company (1946–1963), and president of the American Book Publishers Council
}}
Douglas McCrae Black (July 25, 1895 – May 15, 1977) was an American lawyer and publishing house executive, president of Doubleday and Company from 1946 to 1963 and president of the American Book Publishers Council.{{Cite news |date=1977-05-17 |title=DOUGLAS M. BLACK, 81; EX‐DOUBLEDAY CHIEF |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/17/archives/douglas-m-black-81-exdoubleday-chief-a-founder-of-publishers-group.html |access-date=2023-04-25 |issn=0362-4331}}
Life and career
Black was born in Queens, New York, New York, the son of John William Black (1861–1956), a newspaper editor, and Flora Elizabeth Blayney (1863–1940). Black was educated at Columbia University (class of 1916){{snd}} where he was a member of the Philolexian Society,{{cite web|url=http://www.philolexian.com/alumni.shtml|title=The Philolexian Foundation|publisher=philolexian.com|accessdate=2014-07-26|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013012147/http://www.philolexian.com/alumni.shtml|archivedate=2014-10-13}} and was awarded the Washington Prize{{cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/philo/philolexian_centennial_washington_prize/|title=Philowixian - philolexian centennial washington prize|publisher=columbia.edu|accessdate=2014-07-26}}{{snd}} and Columbia Law School (class of 1918).
On September 11, 1920, Black married Maude T. Bergen (1894–1987), daughter of Benjamin Bergen, and they had one child, Virginia Bergen Black (1924–1994). Black was a lawyer in private practice for many years.
When Nelson Doubleday resigned as president in 1946, Black took over and was president of Doubleday and Company from 1946 to 1963.{{cite web|url=http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/getEad?eadid=C0858&kw=|title=Daphne Du Maurier Letters to Douglas Black, 1947-1976: Finding Aid |publisher=Manuscripts Division, Princeton University Library|accessdate=2014-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611054432/http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/getEad?eadid=C0858&kw=|archive-date=2011-06-11|url-status=dead}} By 1947, Doubleday was the largest publisher in the US, with annual sales of over 30 million books.
Black and his wife were close friends of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife Mamie Eisenhower for more than 20 years and Black was responsible for Doubleday publishing Eisenhower's four volumes of autobiography. The "Douglas M. Black Dwight D. Eisenhower Collection", including over 200 letters and notes exchanged, is at St. Lawrence University.{{cite web|url=http://www.stlawu.edu/library/sites/stlawu.edu.library/files/MSS113fa.pdf |title=The Douglas M. Black Dwight D. Eisenhower Collection |accessdate=2011-04-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928155104/http://www.stlawu.edu/library/sites/stlawu.edu.library/files/MSS113fa.pdf |archivedate=2011-09-28 }}
Black was a keen advocate of freedom of speech and lost a $60,000 court case defending Edmund Wilson's Memoirs of Hecate County, which was banned.{{cite book|title=Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years|last=Boyd|first=Brian|date=1993|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691024714|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8lF4iqAgRQC}} Black was also involved in trying to publish Vladimir Nabokov's controversial 1955 novel Lolita in the US.
Black was a trustee of Columbia University, and a director of the Council on Library Resources.{{cite journal|title= News notes| doi=10.1002/asi.5090080113|volume=8|journal=American Documentation|pages=76–80|year = 1957}}
References
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Category:American book publishers (people)
Category:Columbia Law School alumni
Category:People from Queens, New York