November 19, 2025
Fitzgerald and Gatsby’s Editors and Publishers
Charles Scribner III
Art Historian, Editor, Lecturer, and a member of the family of publishers who worked closely with F. Scott Fitzgerald throughout his career.
Fitzgerald and Gatsby’s Editors and Publishers
Charles Scribner III
Art Historian, Editor, Lecturer, and a member of the family of publishers who worked closely with F. Scott Fitzgerald throughout his career.
Charles Scribner III and Richard Trenner, introducer
Minutes of the 11th Meeting of the 84th Year
Old Guard President George Bustin called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM, and Cynthia Maltenfort led the membership in the invocation. There were 147 members in attendance.
Pres. George Bustin introduced six guests:
· Michelle Rapkin, guest of Richard Trenner;
· Michael Starrels, guest of Daniel Shapiro;
· Carol Starrels, guest of Sandra Shapiro;
· Caroline Weintz, guest of Walter Weintz;
· Adrienne Kaemmerlen, guest of Al Kaemmerlen;
· Tim Burman, guest of Rob Kuser.
Priscilla Roosevelt read the minutes of the Nov. 12 meeting, at which Thomas Kelly, professor of philosophy at Princeton University, spoke on the topic "Arrogance." Ms. Roosevelt noted that, at the conclusion of his talk, Professor Kelly would be glad to respond to comments and questions.
Pres. Bustin reminded all present not to leave coffee cups under chairs and to use the entrance and exit driveways as indicated. He also said that work on the Old Guard companion website has been completed and that the website should go live in the coming week. He added that members will get a notice by email when the link becomes available and that those who choose not to use it can continue to use their thumb drives, which are in the process of being updated.
Pres. Bustin announced that, due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the Old Guard will not meet on Nov. 27 but that the next meeting will be on Dec. 3 at the Jewish Center of Princeton. The speaker will be Ruha Benjamin, a professor in the Department of African American Studies. Her talk is titled "Who Owns the Future? From Artificial Intelligence to Abundant Imagination."
Richard Trenner introduced today's speaker, the art historian, writer, and publisher, Charles Scribner III, whose most recent book, Scribners: Five Generations in Publishing, will be available for purchase after the talk.
Charlie Scribner III was born in New York City to Charles Scribner Jr., salutatorian of the Princeton University Class of 1943 and president of Charles Scribner's Sons from 1952 to 1984, and his wife, Joan Scribner, a superb professional figure skater. Charlie grew up in New York City and Far Hills, graduated from St. Paul's School, and earned A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in Art and Archaeology from Princeton University, where he also taught.
For more than a century, the Scribner Family have been extraordinarily generous to Princeton, New Jersey and Princeton University. For example, they founded the Princeton University Press, built a home for the press on William Street, served as trustees of Princeton University, and donated to Firestone Library the Scribner Archives, a treasure trove of literary papers and books.
After noting that he got into publishing “by accident of birth,” Charlie Scribner told how the family publishing business was started in 1846 by Charles Scribner (1820-1870), a Princeton University graduate in the year 1840, with the publication of a large and dense tome titled The Puritans and Their Principles. It was followed by a smaller, less scholarly, but considerably more popular book called The Reveries of a Bachelor. In the subsequent years of the 19th century, the firm published many works of fiction and nonfiction and also introduced several magazines, including the highly successful Scribner’s Magazine.
Charlie Scribner noted that the original Charles Scribner provided his firm with "business failure insurance" when he married Emma Elizabeth Blair, a daughter of John Insley Blair (1802-1899), who at one time owned more railroad mileage than any other person on earth.
When Charles Scribner, the founder, died at age 50 in 1871, his three sons assumed leadership of the firm in succession: John Blair Scribner (1850-1879, who attended but did not graduate from Princeton); Charles Scribner Jr. (1854-1930, Princeton Class of 1870); and Arthur Hawley Scribner (1859-1932, Princeton Class of 1881).
During that fraternal trio’s tenure, Charles Scribner’s Sons expanded into publishing reference books, including the Encyclopedia Britannia, as well as many works of non-fiction and fiction, including children’s classics like Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, which U.S. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt strongly recommended that the firm publish. The celebrated writers Scribner’s published included Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, George Santayana, and John Galsworthy.
Referring in part to the arrival in 1910 of the "editor of genius," Maxwell Perkins, Charlie Scribner discussed such well-known twentieth-century Scribner authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Marcia Davenport, Alan Paton, C. P. Snow,
James Jones, and Stephen King (twentieth-and-twenty-first century). He focused on Fitzgerald and Hemingway. Charlie noted that several Scribner novels were made into movies, including two of his personal favorites: The Great Gatsby and From Here to Eternity. He added that Fitzgerald’s third novel, The Great Gatsby, originally published to less than stellar sales in 1925, is nowadays selling about 500,000 copies annually.
In 1962, Charles Scribner III, the speaker's grandfather, who had been great friends with Ernest Hemingway, died, whereupon, at age 30, the speaker's father, Charles Jr. (1921-1995), became president of the firm. Charles Scribner Jr. led the firm successfully through a time of rapidly increasing competition as well as of mergers.
Near the end of his talk, Charlie Scribner recounted some of his own adventures in publishing with such authors as P. D. James, Louis Auchincloss, and Andrew Greeley, with each of whom he worked closely and happily.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Trenner
Pres. George Bustin introduced six guests:
· Michelle Rapkin, guest of Richard Trenner;
· Michael Starrels, guest of Daniel Shapiro;
· Carol Starrels, guest of Sandra Shapiro;
· Caroline Weintz, guest of Walter Weintz;
· Adrienne Kaemmerlen, guest of Al Kaemmerlen;
· Tim Burman, guest of Rob Kuser.
Priscilla Roosevelt read the minutes of the Nov. 12 meeting, at which Thomas Kelly, professor of philosophy at Princeton University, spoke on the topic "Arrogance." Ms. Roosevelt noted that, at the conclusion of his talk, Professor Kelly would be glad to respond to comments and questions.
Pres. Bustin reminded all present not to leave coffee cups under chairs and to use the entrance and exit driveways as indicated. He also said that work on the Old Guard companion website has been completed and that the website should go live in the coming week. He added that members will get a notice by email when the link becomes available and that those who choose not to use it can continue to use their thumb drives, which are in the process of being updated.
Pres. Bustin announced that, due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the Old Guard will not meet on Nov. 27 but that the next meeting will be on Dec. 3 at the Jewish Center of Princeton. The speaker will be Ruha Benjamin, a professor in the Department of African American Studies. Her talk is titled "Who Owns the Future? From Artificial Intelligence to Abundant Imagination."
Richard Trenner introduced today's speaker, the art historian, writer, and publisher, Charles Scribner III, whose most recent book, Scribners: Five Generations in Publishing, will be available for purchase after the talk.
Charlie Scribner III was born in New York City to Charles Scribner Jr., salutatorian of the Princeton University Class of 1943 and president of Charles Scribner's Sons from 1952 to 1984, and his wife, Joan Scribner, a superb professional figure skater. Charlie grew up in New York City and Far Hills, graduated from St. Paul's School, and earned A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in Art and Archaeology from Princeton University, where he also taught.
For more than a century, the Scribner Family have been extraordinarily generous to Princeton, New Jersey and Princeton University. For example, they founded the Princeton University Press, built a home for the press on William Street, served as trustees of Princeton University, and donated to Firestone Library the Scribner Archives, a treasure trove of literary papers and books.
After noting that he got into publishing “by accident of birth,” Charlie Scribner told how the family publishing business was started in 1846 by Charles Scribner (1820-1870), a Princeton University graduate in the year 1840, with the publication of a large and dense tome titled The Puritans and Their Principles. It was followed by a smaller, less scholarly, but considerably more popular book called The Reveries of a Bachelor. In the subsequent years of the 19th century, the firm published many works of fiction and nonfiction and also introduced several magazines, including the highly successful Scribner’s Magazine.
Charlie Scribner noted that the original Charles Scribner provided his firm with "business failure insurance" when he married Emma Elizabeth Blair, a daughter of John Insley Blair (1802-1899), who at one time owned more railroad mileage than any other person on earth.
When Charles Scribner, the founder, died at age 50 in 1871, his three sons assumed leadership of the firm in succession: John Blair Scribner (1850-1879, who attended but did not graduate from Princeton); Charles Scribner Jr. (1854-1930, Princeton Class of 1870); and Arthur Hawley Scribner (1859-1932, Princeton Class of 1881).
During that fraternal trio’s tenure, Charles Scribner’s Sons expanded into publishing reference books, including the Encyclopedia Britannia, as well as many works of non-fiction and fiction, including children’s classics like Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, which U.S. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt strongly recommended that the firm publish. The celebrated writers Scribner’s published included Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, George Santayana, and John Galsworthy.
Referring in part to the arrival in 1910 of the "editor of genius," Maxwell Perkins, Charlie Scribner discussed such well-known twentieth-century Scribner authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Marcia Davenport, Alan Paton, C. P. Snow,
James Jones, and Stephen King (twentieth-and-twenty-first century). He focused on Fitzgerald and Hemingway. Charlie noted that several Scribner novels were made into movies, including two of his personal favorites: The Great Gatsby and From Here to Eternity. He added that Fitzgerald’s third novel, The Great Gatsby, originally published to less than stellar sales in 1925, is nowadays selling about 500,000 copies annually.
In 1962, Charles Scribner III, the speaker's grandfather, who had been great friends with Ernest Hemingway, died, whereupon, at age 30, the speaker's father, Charles Jr. (1921-1995), became president of the firm. Charles Scribner Jr. led the firm successfully through a time of rapidly increasing competition as well as of mergers.
Near the end of his talk, Charlie Scribner recounted some of his own adventures in publishing with such authors as P. D. James, Louis Auchincloss, and Andrew Greeley, with each of whom he worked closely and happily.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Trenner