Arthur Robert Harding | |
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A. R. Harding.
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Born | Arthur Robert Harding 1871 Ohio |
Died | 1930 |
Occupation | Trapper, Fur Buyer, Publisher, Editor and Author |
Nationality | English |
Period | 1898–1930 |
Genre | Non-fiction |
Subject | Hunting, trapping, fur handling, tanning, taxidermy, bee hunting and wilderness camping |
Arthur Robert Harding (July 1871 – 1930), better known as A. R. Harding, was an American outdoorsman and founder of Hunter-Trader-Trapper and Fur-Fish-Game Magazine, and publisher, editor and author of many popular outdoor how-to books of the early 1900s. His company was known as the A. R. Harding Publishing Company of Columbus, Ohio and St. Louis, Missouri.
A. R. Harding, the son of Alvin Bartlett Harding (1835–1908) and Mary "Mollie" Thompson Harding (1844–1910), was born July 1871 in Gallia County, Ohio. The family lived in Cheshire Township, Gallia County, Ohio near Kyger, along the Ohio River. Arthur's only sibling was a brother, Howard M. Harding, who became a produce dealer in Gallipolis, Ohio.
Arthur married Marilla Vincent on October 29, 1902, in Gallipolis. They had two children, Louise Harding and Arthur V. Harding, and made their home in Columbus, Ohio.
A. R. Harding died in 1930.
Harding began hunting and trapping at the age of nine. At age 14, he was buying pelts from boys in his neighborhood, and reselling them at a profit. Making his rounds on horseback, he carried most of the pelts in a sack, but tied the fox skins to the saddle to show that his business was doing well. By the age of 20, Harding was employed by L. Frank & Sons, Ohio's Reliable Fur and Hide Dealers, of Zanesville, Ohio, as a fur buyer.
With an interest in publishing, in 1898 Harding and a friend in the printing business founded the Gallia Times, a weekly newspaper serving Gallia County, Ohio. In October 1900 he published the first issue of Hunter-Trader-Trapper, (aka H-T-T), a 24-page magazine with articles about hunting, trapping, fur farming and the fur trade. A one-year subscription sold for 50 cents, and advertisements came largely from the fur buying houses of New York.