Elbert Hubbard

Elbert Hubbard was an American publisher, writer, and philosopher who founded the community of artisans known as Roycroft. His early days as a soap salesman prepared him for life in business as he founded a semiutopian community of residences and shops that specialized in the handcrafted, particularly leather-bound books, furniture, pottery, leather goods, rugs, baskets, stained-glass lamps and windows, etc. The shopmark for the Roycroft name continues to exist as contemporary artisans continue to create works with the Roycroft seal. His creative life with second wife Alice Hubbard unfortunately was cut short as they both died aboard the RMS Lusitania.