Wilson, Halsey William

Wilson, Halsey William (1868–1954) bibliographer, publisher; born in Wilmington, Vt. As the owner of a Minneapolis bookstore, he and his wife Justina Wilson, a prominent suffragist, compiled and in 1898 began publishing the Cumulative Book Index, which continues as an authoritative bibliographic reference work. In 1901 he began publishing the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, followed in 1905 by the Book Review Digest. These and the Wilson Library Journal (1914) remain standard works in the field. In 1913 he moved the H. W. Wilson Company to White Plains, N.Y., and then to the Bronx, New York City, where it remains a major publisher of reference works.