HUBBARD, ELBERT (1856-1915), American author and founder of the Roycrofter Corporation, was born in Bloomington, Ill., in 1856, and perished in the sinking of the "Lusitania," on May 7, 1915. In 1891, after having sold his interest in a manu facturing company in Buffalo, N.Y., he started tramping through Europe. Meeting William Morris and visiting his Kelmscott Press in England, he was inspired to found a similar press, the Roycroft Press, at East Aurora, N.Y. Here he wrote in A Little Journey to the Home of George Eliot, the first of the famous Little Journey booklets, one of which was issued each month from his press for 15 years thereafter. These were pleasant biographical essays, in which the facts and information were interwoven with shrewd comment, wisdom and satire. In the same year Hubbard began printing The Philistine, an original magazine of pocket size, which was continued until his death, Hubbard's facile pen supplying most of the contents. In an number was printed "A Message to Garcia" the most famous single piece that Hubbard wrote. In 1908 he began to edit and publish The Fra, his second monthly magazine, which was con tinued to 1917. By this time his printing establishment had grown to large proportions. Besides his writings it was publishing many artistic books, hand-illuminated and hand-bound. To the printing shop Hubbard added furniture and leather shops and a smithy, in all of which the aim was to produce articles with something of the excellence of workmanship possessed by the old time craftsman. Painting, clay-moulding and terra-cotta work were included and an art school was established. Much of the work was done by neighbouring boys and girls although many persons were attracted to the community by its leader and the spirit of his enterprise. The Roycrofters were formed into a legal corporation in which only the workers held shares. The com munity and the Roycroft enterprises were continued by Hubbard's son, Elbert.
Hubbard preached a gospel that was both individualistic and communal, and his writings contain a strong mixture of radical ism and conservatism. He apotheosized work, and his constant theme was efficiency. In style his writings were clear, vigorous and epigrammatic. Besides those mentioned his more important books were: Time and Chance (1899) ; Life of Ali Baba The Man of Sorrows (1906) ; So Here Cometh White Hyacinths (1907) ; and The Roycroft Dictionary 0914). Elbert Hubbard's Scrap Book (1923) and The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927) were published posthumously. See also A. Lane, Elbert Hubbard and His Work (1901); and F. Shay, Elbert Hubbard of East Aurora (1926).