Introduction

Biography

David was the son of Ez­ra Sprague Cook and Per­me­lia Milk, and hus­band of Mar­guer­ite Mur­at.

He beg­an his pub­lish­ing ca­reer as a print­er’s de­vil (an ap­pren­tice in his fa­ther’s shop).

In 1875, Da­vid and Mar­guer­ite found­ed the David C. Cook Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, which grew out of a sew­ing ma­chine ap­pa­ra­tus bu­si­ness he start­ed in his fa­ther’s print shop.

When the Great Chi­ca­go Fire de­stroyed the bu­si­ness in 1871, he re­start­ed it, then es­tab­lished the pub­lish­ing com­pa­ny. Its first print­ing plant was on Lin­coln Ave­nue in Chi­ca­go.

It be­came a lead­ing ev­an­ge­li­cal pub­lish­ing house, churn­ing out large amounts of li­te­ra­ture for church­es and Sun­day Schools. As of 2015, the com­pa­ny was based in Co­lo­ra­do Springs, Co­lo­ra­do.

Works

• Primary Songs (Ch­ica­go, Il­li­nois: Da­vid C. Cook, 1878)
• The In­ter­na­tion­al Les­son Hym­nal (Ch­ica­go, Il­li­nois: Da­vid C. Cook, 1878 & later)
• All Things New (Ch­ica­go, Il­li­nois: Da­vid C. Cook, 1898)
• Rest (Ch­ica­go, Il­li­nois: Da­vid C. Cook, 1898)