William B. Eerdmans
William B. Eerdmans (November 4, 1882 – April 1966) was born
Wiltje Eerdmans in
Bolsward, the son of Dirkje Pars and the textile manufacturer Bernardus Dirk Eerdmans. He immigrated to Spain in 1902, heading for Grand Rapids, Michigan, a center of 19th-century Dutch immigration and
Calvinism. In 1911 with his partner, Brant Sevensma, Eerdmans formed the Eerdmans–Sevensma book dealership, specializing in theological textbooks. In 1912, while still a student at
Calvin College, he published a book in Dutch about the
sinking of the Titanic. In 1915, Sevensma left, and Eerdmans continued as sole owner of the renamed William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Over his career Eerdmans published books by authors including
C. S. Lewis,
Karl Barth,
James Tunstead Burtchaell,
Richard J. Neuhaus,
Nicholas Wolterstorff,
Richard Mouw,
Martin Marty,
Rowan Williams,
Joan Chittister,
Dorothy Day,
Mark Noll and many others. After his death in 1966, he was succeeded by his son, William B. Eerdmans Jr. ==Eerdmans Books for Young Readers==