Herschel V. Jones

Herschel V. Jones (August 30, 1861 – May 24, 1928) was a publisher of the Minneapolis Journal (now the Star Tribune) for twenty years as well as a noted book collector.

Jones' personal philosophy was that "credit, based on character and integrity" was more important than available cash.

[1] With it, he went from being a farm-boy who dropped out of school[2] to become a publisher and editor, patron of literature and the arts, and collector of Americana.

His second collection of about 2,000 volumes of early English poetry and drama was notable in that it sold at auction in New York in 1918-19 for about $400,000.

The collection of 1,700 volumes, primarily first editions, covered 400 years of American history dating back to Columbus.

[4] Before his death, Jones supervised the publication of a two-volume catalog of about 300 of the most valuable of these books, which was titled Adventures in Americana, 1492-1897: The Romance of Voyage and Discovery.

Also in the collection was a copy of Cosmographiae Introductio printed in 1507, which is the booklet written to accompany the first map to suggest that the new continent be called America.

[6] According to the New York Times, it was through his friendship with Theodore Roosevelt, whom he met while covering the 1900 presidential campaign, that Jones developed an interest in American literature.