Cyclopedia of World Authors

by Frank N. Magill, Salem Press (Editor)

This reference work on world authors has been revised to include 523 new articles, 1534 revised articles, plus updated and expanded secondary bibliographies.

Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

About the author

Dr. Frank Northen Magill (1907-1997) was a writer and editor of distinguished reference works for over forty years.

Magill also founded the Salem Press in 1949. Magill’s expertise became so recognizable in the hundreds of volumes of reference works published by Salem Press that librarians sometimes referred to the publications as “Magill books.”

Born in Smyrna, Ga., Magill earned an undergraduate degree at Georgia Tech and a master’s degree in engineering at Columbia University. He began working as an engineer, then served as a major in the Army Air Corps during World War II. While stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, Magill read widely and conceived of a book that he titled “Masterplots.” That was the first book to be published by Salem Press, in 1949.

Eventually the company branched into history, humanities, social science and sciences. Operating offices in New York and Los Angeles, Magill earned a doctorate and taught a popular reference course at USC.