Fisk, Earl E. (Earl Ellsworth), 1892-1954

Earl E. Fisk, born in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1892, was an insurance agent, book collector, and casual literary agent to writers who were also his friends. Fisk entered the insurance business after graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1913, and became chairman of the National Association of Insurance Agents. At the same time, he continued collecting first editions of books by contemporary authors, including Max Beerbohm, A. E. Coppard, Claud Lovat Fraser, Holbrook Jackson, and A. Edward Newton. Although Fisk lived in Wisconsin for all of his adult life, he maintained a connection to the British literary scene. He actively promoted the work of authors whom he enjoyed, and he helped to place books by Haldane Macfall and Holbrook Jackson with American publishers. He also wrote many articles for The Bookman, and edited several books, including two collections of Elizabethan poetry and an edition of William Cobbett's Advice to Young Men and to Young Women. Fisk died in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1954.

From the guide to the Earl E. Fisk papers, 1911-1953, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)