{{Short description|American writer, editor, and publisher (1905–1991)}} {{Use American English|date=July 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}} '''Howard Haycraft''' (July 25, 1905{{snd}}November 12, 1991) was an American writer, editor, and publisher.
Haycraft was born on July 24, 1905, in Madelia, Minnesota, to Marie (Stelzer) and Julius Everett Haycraft.<ref name="conauth">{{Cite book |title=Contemporary Authors |title-link=Contemporary Authors |publisher=Gale |year=1970 |isbn=0-8103-0021-4 |editor-last1=Harte |editor-first1=Barbara |pages=191–192 |editor-last2=Riley |editor-first2=Carolyn}}</ref> He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1928.<ref name="conauth" />
Haycraft began working at the H. W. Wilson Company in 1929 after a brief stint at the University of Minnesota Press.<ref name="conauth" /> He was president of H. W. Wilson from 1953 to 1967 and chairman of its board of directors thereafter.<ref name="amauth">{{Cite book |last1=Burke |first1=William Jeremiah |title=American Authors and Books, 1640 to the Present Day |title-link=American Authors and Books |last2=Howe |first2=Will David |last3=Weiss |first3=Irving |last4=Weiss |first4=Anne |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |year=1972 |isbn=978-0-517-50139-9 |page=285 |oclc=956659256}}</ref>
At H. W. Wilson, Haycraft edited and contributed to reference works about writers and literature.<ref name="herzberg1966">{{Cite book |title=The Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature |publisher=Thomas Y. Crowell Co. |year=1966 |isbn=0-690-67341-8 |editor-last1=Herzberg |editor-first1=Max J. |page=442 |oclc=269151}}</ref> He was fascinated by mysteries and detective fiction.<ref name="nytobit">{{Cite news |last=Grimes |first=William |author-link=William Grimes (journalist) |date=1991-11-13 |title=Howard Haycraft Is Dead at 86; A Publisher and Mystery Scholar |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/13/arts/howard-haycraft-is-dead-at-86-a-publisher-and-mystery-scholar.html |access-date=2022-07-29 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724213827/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/13/arts/howard-haycraft-is-dead-at-86-a-publisher-and-mystery-scholar.html |url-status=live }}</ref> His book ''Murder for Pleasure: The Life and Times of the Detective Story'' (1941)—described in a profile published that year as the "first full-length history and survey of police fiction"<ref name="currbio">{{Cite book |title=Current Biography |title-link=Current Biography |publisher=H. W. Wilson Company |year=1941 |editor-last1=Block |editor-first1=Maxine |pages=371–372 |chapter=Haycraft, Howard}}</ref>—laid out an early critical view of the mystery genre and its theory. ''Murder for Pleasure'' identifies the origins of detective fiction in the work of Edgar Allan Poe, surveys the work of authors Haycraft identified as being of great quality or historical importance, and provides an overview of the critical literature on detective fiction up to its publication.<ref name="ascari2007">{{Cite book |last1=Ascari |first1=Maurizio |title=A Counter-History of Crime Fiction |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-230-59462-3 |page=3 |doi=10.1057/9780230234536}}</ref>
Haycraft received a special citation in 1976 at the centennial of the American Library Association.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Special Centennial Citation |url=https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/special-centennial-citation |access-date=2024-03-13 |publisher=American Library Association |archive-date=January 20, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120120900/https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/special-centennial-citation |url-status=live }}</ref>
A resident of Hightstown, New Jersey, Haycraft died there on November 12, 1991.<ref name="nytobit" />
== Citations == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haycraft, Howard}} Category:1905 births Category:1991 deaths Category:20th-century American male writers Category:American literary historians Category:American chief executives in the publishing industry Category:University of Minnesota alumni Category:People from Hightstown, New Jersey Category:People from Watonwan County, Minnesota Category:Writers from Minnesota Category:Writers from Mercer County, New Jersey Category:20th-century American historians
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