Frank Allston Davis grew up in the rugged farmland of Vermont. He went to normal school and became a teacher. In the summer of 1870, he took off for Asbury Park, New Jersey and sold lawn mowers--the real kind that had to be pushed. He was so delighted with his success as a salesman that he decided to leave Vermont for good. He settled in Philadelphia where he became an agent for several publishing houses.

Frank and Irene Davis (Click image to enlarge)

In 1879, he started the F. A. Davis Company and was also an agent for a British firm, William Wood and Company--the largest medical publisher in the world at that time. F.A. Davis Company published the first and eight subsequent editions of The Internal Secretions and Principles of Medicine, written by Dr. Charles E. de M. Sajous, who introduced endocrinology to the United States and was the first President of the Endocrine Society. Dr. Sajous also edited an eight-volume work for F.A. Davis Company, Analytic Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, which became the company's largest source of revenue.

Frank Allston Davis died in 1917 leaving the company's fate in the hands of his widow, Irene (Craven). Shortly after his death, Dr. Sajous also died, but Mrs. Davis was not one to despair. She was able to engage Dr. George Morris Piersol to succeed Dr. Sajous. Dr. Piersol was a leader in academic medicine, an author and editor of several journals, and the third person to be named Master of Medicine by the American College of Physicians. Dr. Edward L. Bortz, President of the American Medical Association in 1948, assisted Dr. Piersol and invited other physicians to write for the Cyclopedia. The eight-volume work expanded to fifteen volumes and was retitled The Cyclopedia of Medicine, Surgery and Specialties.

F.A. Davis Company in the early 1900s. (Click image to enlarge)

Mrs. Davis realized the danger of being dependent on a single product. In her effort to diversify, she answered a "situations wanted" advertisement in Publishers Weekly and discovered Clarence W. Taber, author of a Dictionary for Nurses, which later became Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary. The new dictionary was an immediate success and Mr. Taber developed 30 more nursing textbooks that became the standard in nursing education for a generation. Gradually, the company's products were sold less by door-to-door salesmen and more by mail order and through bookstores and wholesalers.

Robert Craven, Sr.

Frank and Irene did not have any children. As a widow, Irene offered to raise her semi-orphaned nephew from age five. Thus, Robert Craven Sr. "grew up in the business". When Robert took over the F.A. Davis Company in 1960, his biggest problem was The Cyclopedia of Medicine, Surgery and Specialties. Medicine was advancing far too fast for the F.A. Davis Company to keep up with in a large multi-volume work. He followed in the footsteps of his uncle and made the company an agent for another British publisher, Blackwell Scientific Publications. This took the company into new fields of medicine and introduced it to new authors. The company increased its output of new titles while The Cyclopedia gradually faded away. Eventually, the company ceased being an agent for Blackwell and began to hold its own against a wave of new style nursing textbooks which hit the market in 1958. Books like the Cailliet Pain Series and Brunnstrom's Clinical Kinesiology carried the F.A. Davis Company into a new area called allied health.

For nearly 90 years, the company sought refuge in factory lofts and remodeled stables. Finally, in 1968, the company moved into its first new facility at 1915 Arch Street in Philadelphia.

Robert Craven Sr.'s son, Robert Craven, Jr., had his eye on the company early on and began working summers in the F.A. Davis's warehouse and at Blackwell Scientific in Oxford. After completing his college education, he became an educational sales representative so he could get to know the company's customers, learn about their needs, and determine how the company could fill those needs.

Robert Craven, Jr.

In 1989, Robert Craven Jr. became President of the F.A. Davis Company - the fourth person to oversee the company in its 125 years. Like his great uncle and father before him, Rob's goal continues to be meeting the needs of his customers. He achieves this by keeping a keen eye on changes in the marketplace and by maintaining a highly qualified and experienced staff both in-house and in the field (including his brother, Bruce) who share his goal. The rewards have been a significant increase in sales and even more importantly, a reputation as a high-quality publisher of innovative and timely publications that meet the needs of student and practicing health professionals.

The F.A. Davis Company is proud to be continuing in the footsteps of its founder by being one of the few remaining independently owned American medical publishers.