Harry Scherman
Harry Scherman was an American publisher and economist best known for co-founding the Book of the Month Club. He was born Isaac Harry Scherman on February 1, 1887, in Montreal, Canada, and died on November 12, 1969, in New York City.
He was the youngest of five children. After his parents separated, he and his brothers lived in an orphanage in Atlanta from 1893 to 1899. He finished high school at Central High School in Philadelphia in 1905 and later studied at the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Scherman’s early work included positions at The American Hebrew newspaper, the Ruthrauff and Ryan advertising firm, and the J. Walter Thompson Company. In 1916 he started the Little Leather Library, a series of small, affordable books, and in 1926 he co-founded the Book of the Month Club, a popular monthly book selection service.
He also wrote four books on economics. In The Promises Men Live By (1938), he argued that economic problems could be understood through people’s beliefs and he was critical of some Keynesian ideas.
Scherman married Bernardine Kielty on June 3, 1914. They had two children: Katharine Scherman Rosin and Thomas Scherman. He died in Manhattan in 1969. In 1993, his collected papers were purchased by the University of Georgia’s Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:45 (CET).