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Parrish, Maxfield

(Encyclopedia)Parrish, Maxfield, 1870–1966, American painter and illustrator, b. Philadelphia; pupil of Howard Pyle. He is known for his original and highly decorative posters, magazine covers, and book illustrat...

Pitman, Sir Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Pitman, Sir Isaac, 1813–97, English inventor of phonographic shorthand. In Stenographic Soundhand (1837) he set forth a shorthand system based on phonetic rather than orthographic principles; adapte...

Vercors

(Encyclopedia)Vercors vĕrkôrˈ [key], 1902–91, French writer and illustrator, whose original name was Jean Bruller. Vercors served in the French resistance movement and helped to found Les Éditions de Minuit, ...

Sparks

(Encyclopedia)Sparks, city (1990 pop. 53,367), Washoe co., W Nev., just E of Reno; inc. 1905. The Southern Pacific RR was the major employer until the dieselization of railroad engines forced the closing (1957) of ...

Putnam, George Palmer, 1887–1950, American author and explorer

(Encyclopedia)Putnam, George Palmer, 1887–1950, American author and explorer, b. Rye, N.Y.; grandson of G. P. Putnam, founder of the publishing firm. He led two expeditions to the Arctic—one in 1926, under the ...

Fields, James Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Fields, James Thomas, 1817–81, American author and publisher, b. Portsmouth, N.H. He was the junior partner of Ticknor and Fields, noted Boston publishing house in the mid-19th cent. He edited (1861...

Harris, Barbara Clementine

(Encyclopedia)Harris, Barbara Clementine, 1930–2020, American Episcopal bishop, b. Philadelphia. An African American, Harris was active in the civil-rights movement in the 1960s (and remained active in social cau...

Jean, Michaëlle

(Encyclopedia)Jean, Michaëlle, 1957–, Canadian journalist, filmmaker, and women's rights activist, b. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Her family immigrated to Canada in 1968. After studying languages and literature at th...

Jenson, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Jenson or Janson, Nicolas both: nēkôläˈ zhäNsôNˈ [key], d. c.1480, Venetian printer, b. France. Jenson studied printing with Gutenberg at Mainz for three years. He was one of the first to desig...

Mergenthaler, Ottmar

(Encyclopedia)Mergenthaler, Ottmar ôtˈmär mĕrˈgən-täˌlər [key], 1854–99, American inventor of the Linotype (see printing). Mergenthaler was born in Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1872 and ...