NICHOLAS LEON BROWN, book publisher

My middle name, Nicholas, was chosen in memory of Nicholas Leon Brown, my Russian-born paternal grandfather, who died on November 17, 1947, about four years before I was born.  He was born on October 5, 1885, in Russia.

Nicholas was a literary-oriented person who became what today might be called a “boutique” book publisher and seller, first in New York City and then in Philadelphia

It seems ironic that this Jewish man would have been named after a Russian Czar under whose rule the violent anti-Semitic “pogroms” forced his family to flee to America.  In Russia, the family name was Brjanski or Briansky, which was changed to “Brown,” after the family arrived at Ellis Island in 1902.

Nicholas Leon Brown 12-28-2024.pdf

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