We live in an age when Google™, the search engine, can find for us nearly anything. The guy that established googol, the term, which inspired Google, the search engine, was born in 1878, about the same time F.A. Davis Company was founded (1879). It was Dr. Edward Kasner’s intent to anglicize a number big enough to make countable every particle in the universe, bringing a sense of marvel to the formation of 100 zeroes and a bunch of commas. He couldn’t have done it without his 9-year old nephew who masterminded the word. Frank Allston Davis, on the other hand, created a company big enough to serve the information needs of every health care professional, bringing a sense of marvel to superior content. Mr. Davis started a powerful tradition rich in marvelously large numbers, especially ones needing no commas at all. He couldn’t have done it without his nephew either.

Consider the enormity of the number “127” as enlarged by F.A. Davis Company. For 127 years (note no commas) F.A. Davis has been publishing the finest in health science publications under the leadership of the founding family. For the same 127 years F.A. Davis has been independent and closely held…and truly amazed at how increasingly attractive we look to total strangers. But we are still not for sale. Short version: We just say “No.” Long version: “Beautiful course, thanks for the round, but no, we’re not interested.”

In between doling out well-mannered rejections, we have found the time to publish a distinguished list of titles for your career advancement and/or your instructional efficacy. There is no apparent burden in carrying a rich history apart from any lingering effects brought on by a balmy night a couple of years ago when we celebrated our quasquicentennial. Quasquicentennial? No, it’s not the latest in gourmet tequila. The word itself could use a few commas and barely fit on the Cherry Street block in Philadelphia we reconfigured for one enchantingly nostalgic evening.

Life-size images of all three past presidents gazed proudly from second-story windows within a replicated façade of a building from which these leaders secured their command. The youngest could also be seen below, at street level, marveling at the functionality of the replicated front door; a door he darkened for the first 20 years of his 57-year career at Davis. He is my father, Bob Craven, Chairman of the Board and nephew of F.A. Davis. He, more than the ambient lighting, more than the tantalizing beat of brass, woodwind and string, and even more than the spontaneous outburst of those absorbed in overdue reunion, brought the scene to life at his rejuvenated age (at the time) of 82. On this night, door and ex-president swung inseparably to the rhythm of yesteryear.

Just above, from the middle window Aunt Irene, wife of the founder and president until 1960, radiated a content, yet stern countenance, familiar to all who wished her cooperation however futile that may have been. She never reached 100 pounds, but was no pushover in any weight class. If she did not approve of the merriment below, surely we would not have enjoyed such agreeable weather. On display, her wry smile veiled the fierce pride engaged to protect the company’s prolonged independence. Her reign as president (her entry-level position) lasted 43 years. Googol, schmoogol, show me a word big enough for that!

A few trump l’oeil bricks and two windows to her right, a latter-day F.A. Davis stood with an air of authority reserved for nobility. Because of his rheumatism, F.A. favored the west coast of Florida to seed and monitor much capital investment. That handlebar mustache may have been the remains of a beard clipping spree during a Tampa Bay heat wave. If F.A. had spent that much time mingling in Florida today, he’d be sized up as a Presidential candidate. The publishing house, however never left Philadelphia. And perhaps it is appropriate that F.A. be rendered on a beautifully cool summer evening, in a full-length overcoat, with hat in hand, a testament to the blood thinning effects of Florida’s therapeutic climate. His story makes our numbers, big and getting bigger, that much more remarkable.

Only in an F.A. Davis catalog had there been more Davis authors in one place. And in the grandeur of the evening, they warmly added to the revelry. Several were cited for both the successful longevity of their titles and their itinerant effort to join the celebration. It is a select group of very special people whose publications have helped F.A. Davis sales grow by six times in the last 20 years. They are listed in alphabetical order with their book titles whose editions have spanned this period.

• Marilynn E. Doenges, RN, BSN, MA: Nurse’s Pocket Guide: Diagnoses, Interventions, and Rationales & Nursing Care Plans: Guidelines for Individualizing Patient Care
• Barbara A. Gylys, MEd, CMA-A: Medical Terminology Systems: A Body Systems Approach & Medical Terminology Simplified: A Programmed Learning Approach by Body Systems
• Denise Harmening, PhD, MT(ASCP), CLS(NCA): Modern Blood Banking and Transfusion Practices & Clinical Hematology and Fundamentals of Hemostasis
• Carole Bernstein Lewis, PhD, PT, GCS, MSG, MPA: Aging: The Health-Care Challenge
• Sue Michlovitz, PhD, PT, CHT: Modalities for Therapeutic Intervention
• Mary Frances Moorhouse, RN, BSN, CRRN, CLNC: Nurse’s Pocket Guide: Diagnoses, Interventions, and Rationales & Nursing Care Plans: Guidelines for Individualizing Patient Care
• Alice C. Murr, RN, BSN: Nurse’s Pocket Guide: Diagnoses, Interventions, and Rationales & Nursing Care Plans: Guidelines for Individualizing Patient Care
• Clayton L. Thomas, M.D., M.P.H.: former editor of Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary

Their titles, including the ones above, can be found descriptively on our website. It is my honor to bring their names forward and acknowledge them on our quasquicentennial honor roll. I thank them once again for coming and for sustaining book success at F.A. Davis Company for over 20 years.

The party space is back functioning as a parking lot and quiet side street. The dumpsters on Cherry Street have reclaimed their positions. Google is back searching in vain for another independent, closely held health science publisher (that has succeeded the generation of the founder). And the replicate façade lies in wait, out of view, hoping there may be an occasion before 2029 when Davis history might raise its ceremonial glass again. 128? Quasquicentennial plus 3? Suddenly that has a nice ring to it.

	President's Letters 2009 2008 2007 2005 2004 2003 2001-02 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
Robert H. Craven, Jr.