Alfred Harcourt

Alfred Harcourt (January 31, 1881 – June 20, 1954) was an American publisher and compiler who co-founded Harcourt, Brace & Howe in 1919.

Harcourt was born in New Paltz, New York to a fruit farmer and attended the New Paltz Normal School. While at the normal school Harcourt became a member of the Delphic Fraternity. An illness at age 9 lead to his love for books and reading.

Harcourt graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University in 1904 with fellow grad Donald Brace, with whom he founded a publishing company.

He retired from his business due to poor health in 1941 and died in 1954 in Santa Barbara, California.

Harcourt's second wife, Ellen Knowles, founded the Alfred Harcourt Foundation in 1962. She died in 1984.