{{Short description|American bibliographer (1906–1974)}} {{Infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL|dateformat=mdy|suppressfields=occupation|image=Jacob Blanck - Bibliography of American Literature - vol 7 - 1983.png}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}{{Use American English|date=January 2022}} '''Jacob Nathaniel Blanck''' (November 10, 1906{{snd}}December 23, 1974) was an American bibliographer, editor, and children's writer. Born in Boston, he attended local schools and briefly ran a bookshop before being hired to assist on a bibliography of American first editions. He wrote for periodicals on the book trade and worked as a bibliographer in libraries including the Library of Congress in the 1940s and 1950s. Blanck also published two children's books. In the early 1940s, he founded a bibliography project that became ''Bibliography of American Literature'', a selective bibliography of American literature. It was completed by 1992, after Blanck's death.

==Early life and education== Jacob Nathaniel Blanck was born on November 10, 1906, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Mildred Rosenberg (Friedman) and Selig Blanck. He attended Boston public schools, including the Commercial High School<ref name="meek1974">{{Cite journal|last=Meek|first=Frederick M.|year=1974|title=Jacob Nathaniel Blanck|journal=Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society|volume=86|pages=99–101|issn=0076-4981|jstor=25080765|series=3d series}}</ref> (possibly Boston's High School of Commerce (Boston))<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Downey|first=James E.|year=1913|title='Education for Business': The Boston High School of Commerce|journal=Journal of Political Economy|volume=21|issue=3|pages=221–242|doi=10.1086/252202 |issn=0022-3808|jstor=1819805|s2cid=154564733 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1712442 }}</ref> but did not go to college.<ref name="conauth">{{Cite book|editor1-last=Jones|editor1-first=Daniel|title=Contemporary Authors|title-link=Contemporary Authors|year=1999|publisher=Gale|isbn=0-7876-2038-6|oclc=40234025|series=new revision series|volume=69|pages=46–48}}</ref> He started the Galleon Book Shop in Boston in 1929, which folded.{{Sfn|Bond|1992|p=129}}

==Career== Blanck edited a rare book section in ''Publishers Weekly'' from 1936 to 1947, when it moved to the ''Antiquarian Bookman'' and was published there until 1952.<ref name="conauth" />{{Sfn|Stoddard|1975|p=48}} Around that time, he also worked as a bibliographer at the Library of Congress (1939–1941) and briefly at the Indiana Historical Society, in 1941.<ref name="conauth"/>

Merle Johnson, a bibliographer and rare book expert, hired Blanck to help him revise ''American First Editions'', a second edition of which was released in 1932.{{Sfn|Bond|1992|p=130}} In 1936 and 1942, Blanck published revised editions of ''American First Editions''.{{Sfn|Tanselle|1975|p=250}}

In the early 1940s, Blanck suggested to the Bibliographical Society of America that it sponsor a bibliography of American literature.{{sfn|Gallup|1998|p=23}} In his view, the two existing general bibliographies of American books—''American Authors 1795–1895'' (1897) by P. K. Foley, and Merle Johnson's ''American First Editions''—were not well suited for literary study, because they were either outdated or focused primarily on book collecting as opposed to scholarly research.{{Sfn|Bond|1992|pp=133–134}} The Lilly Endowment provided funding and Carroll A. Wilson, a book collector, was named chair of the project.{{sfn|Gallup|1998|p=23}} Formally begun on January 1, 1944,{{Sfn|Stoddard|1975|p=49}} it became ''Bibliography of American Literature'', a study of all first editions by 300 American authors selected for their literary importance.<ref name="hart1983">{{Cite book|last=Hart|first=James D.|title=The Oxford Companion to American Literature|title-link=The Oxford Companion to American Literature|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1983|isbn=0-19-503074-5|edition=5th|pages=72|oclc=8114573|author-link=James D. Hart}}</ref><ref name="sheehy1976">{{Cite book|title=Guide to Reference Books|publisher=American Library Association|year=1976|isbn=0-8389-0205-7|editor-last=Sheehy|editor-first=Eugene P.|edition=9th|page=BD277|oclc=2137253}}</ref> Only writers of belles-lettres or literary fiction were included. The first volume was published in 1955.<ref name="marcuse1990">{{Cite book|last=Marcuse|first=Michael J.|title=A Reference Guide for English Studies|year=1990|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0-520-05161-0|location=Berkeley, California|oclc=14241434|page=378}}</ref> By 1970, Blanck had completed almost 13,000&nbsp;entries on 173&nbsp;authors.<ref name="conauth" /> The project was finished in 1992, after Blanck's death.{{sfn|Gallup|1998|p=23}} In a 2002 guide, critic James L. Harner describes ''Bibliography of American Literature'' as "one of the monumental bibliographies of the twentieth century".{{Sfn|Harner|2002|p=381}}

He wrote two children's books: ''Jonathan and the Rainbow'' (1948), about a boy who saves a rainbow after it is taken by a pirate; and ''The King and the Noble Blacksmith'' (1950), about a child king who is helped by the titular blacksmith.<ref name="conauth"/>

He died on December 23, 1974, at Faulkner Hospital (now Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital) in Boston.<ref name="nytobit">{{Cite news|date=1974-12-26|title=Jacob Blanck, 68, Author, Is Dead|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/26/archives/jacob-blanck-68-author-is-dead-chronicler-of-us-writers-was.html|access-date=2022-01-05|issn=0362-4331|page=40}}</ref>{{Sfn|Stoddard|1975|p=47}}

==Assessment== Frederick M. Meek of the Massachusetts Historical Society pointed to his "hard work, incredible amount of knowledge, unusual memory and recall" combined with "a deep sensitive pride in what he did" which made him "''the'' authority in his field – the field of American literature bibliography – culminating in ''BAL''".<ref name="meek1974"/>

A sign of the high respect in which bibliographers hold Blanck is the National Library of Australia's review on Chester W. Topp's ''Victorian Yellowbacks and Paperbacks, 1849-1905'' in which Blanck is praised as follows: "a unique and major accomplishment in bibliographic studies in the tradition of Jacob Blanck, Michael Sadleir, Joseph Sabin and others".<ref>[https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/29743 Victorian yellowbacks & paperbacks, 1849-1905 / by Chester W. Topp], nla.gov.au. Retrieved 6 January 2022.</ref>

== Publications == === Books === * ''Peter Parley to Penrod: A Bibliographical Description of the Best-Loved American Juvenile Books'' (1938)<ref name="amauth">{{Cite book|title=American Authors and Books: 1640 to the Present Day|title-link=American Authors and Books|year=1972|publisher=Crown Publishing Group|isbn=0-517-50139-2|edition=3d|oclc=523487|page=60}}</ref> * ''Jonathan and the Rainbow'' (1948) * ''The King and the Noble Blacksmith'' (1950) * ''Bibliography of American Literature'' (1955–91)

=== Articles === * {{Cite book|chapter=A Twentieth-Century Look at Nineteenth-Century Children's Books|editor1-last=Targ|editor1-first=William|url=https://archive.org/details/bibliophileinnur0000unse|url-access=registration|title=Bibliophile in the Nursery: A Bookman's Treasury of Collectors' Lore on Old and Rare Children's Books|year=1969|orig-year=1957|publisher=World Publishing Company; Scarecrow Reprint Corp|location=Metuchen, New Jersey|oclc=1147709660|pages=427–451}}

== References == {{reflist}}

== Works cited == * {{Cite journal|last=Bond|first=W. H.|year=1992|title=Jacob Blanck and ''BAL''|journal=The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America|volume=86|issue=2|pages=129–145|doi=10.1086/pbsa.86.2.24302951 |issn=0006-128X|jstor=24302951|s2cid=181275437 }} * {{Cite book|last=Gallup|first=Donald|url=https://archive.org/details/whatmadpursuitsm0000gall|title=What Mad Pursuits! More Memories of a Yale Librarian|publisher=Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library|year=1998|isbn=0-8457-3132-7|location=New Haven, Connecticut|oclc=38964134|url-access=registration}} * {{Cite book|last=Harner|first=James L.|url=https://archive.org/details/literaryresearch00harn_1|title=Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies|publisher=Modern Language Association|year=2002|isbn=0-87352-982-0|edition=4th|location=New York|oclc=48691433|url-access=registration}} *{{cite journal|last=Stoddard|first=Roger E.|date=April 16, 1975|title=Jacob Nathaniel Blanck|url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44498094.pdf|journal=Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society|volume=85|issue=1|pages=47–51|issn=0044-751X}} *{{Cite book|last=Tanselle|first=G. Thomas|url=https://archive.org/details/essaysonbibliogr0000bren|title=Essays on Bibliography|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=1975|isbn=0-8108-0826-9|editor-last=Brenni|editor-first=Vito Joseph|pages=246–267|chapter=The Descriptive Bibliography of American Authors|oclc=1341553|author-link=G. Thomas Tanselle|url-access=registration}}

==Further reading== * {{Cite journal|last=Leary|first=Lewis|date=June 1960|title=Review of ''Bibliography of American Literature'', volume 3 (1959)|journal=The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America|language=en|volume=54|issue=2|page=131|doi=10.1086/pbsa.54.2.24299846|issn=0006-128X}} * {{Cite book|editor1-last=Winship|editor1-first=Michael|url=https://archive.org/details/epitomeofbibliog0000wins|url-access=registration|title=Epitome of Bibliography of American Literature|year=1995|publisher=North American Press|isbn=1-55591-950-2|location=Golden, Colorado|oclc=31288514}}

==External links== * [https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/resources/1462 Jacob Blanck papers] at Yale University Library * [https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/259 Finding aid for the Jacob Blanck Papers] at the University of Connecticut Archives and Special Collections

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanck, Jacob}} Category:1906 births Category:1974 deaths Category:20th-century American male writers Category:American bibliographers Category:American book editors Category:American children's writers Category:Writers from Boston