Editing The Elements of Style (section)

==History==
[[Cornell University]] [[English studies|English]] professor William Strunk Jr. wrote ''The Elements of Style'' in 1918 and privately published it in 1919, for use at the university. Harcourt republished it in 52-page format in 1920.{{Cn|date=October 2024}} Strunk and editor Edward A. Tenney later revised it for publication as ''The Elements and Practice of Composition'' (1935). In 1957, the style guide reached the attention of [[E.B. White]] at ''[[The New Yorker]]''. White had studied writing under Strunk in 1919 but had since forgotten "the little book" that he described as a "forty-three-page summation of the case for cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English."  Weeks later, White wrote about Strunk's devotion to lucid English prose in his column.<ref name="white57">E. B. White, "Letter from the East", ''The New Yorker'', July 27, 1957, '''33''':23:[https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1957-07-27/flipbook/035/ 35–36, 41–43]</ref><ref name="Style, p.xiii">{{cite book|last=Strunk|first=William Jr.|title=The Elements of Style|year=2009|publisher=Allyn and Bacon|location=Boston|isbn=978-0-205-31342-6|edition=5th|author2=White, E. B.|page=xiii|url=https://archive.org/details/elementsofs00stru}}</ref>

Strunk died in 1946.  [[Macmillan and Company]] subsequently commissioned White to revise ''The Elements'' for a 1959 edition. White's expansion and modernization of Strunk and Tenney's 1935 revised edition yielded the writing style manual informally known as "Strunk & White', the first edition of which sold about two million copies in 1959. More than ten million copies of three editions were later sold.<ref>Strunk and White (2009), p. x.</ref> Mark Garvey relates the history of the book in ''Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style'' (2009).<ref>{{cite book|author=Garvey, Mark|date=2009|title=Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-4165-9092-7|url=https://archive.org/details/stylizedslightly00garv}}</ref>

[[Maira Kalman]], who provided the illustrations for ''The Elements of Style Illustrated'' (2005, see below), asked [[Nico Muhly]] to compose a [[cantata]] based on the book. It was performed at the [[New York Public Library]] in October 2005.<ref>{{cite news|author=Eicher, Jeremy |date=October 21, 2005|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/19/arts/style-gets-new-elements.html |title='Style' Gets New Elements|work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Neary, Lynn |date=November 2, 2005|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4985137|title='Elements of Style' Goes Beyond Words|work=NPR Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.laco.org/composer/359 |title=Nico Muhly |website=[[Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116124639/http://www.laco.org/composer/359 |archive-date=2014-01-16}}</ref>

[[Audiobook]] versions of ''The Elements'' now feature changed wording, citing "gender issues" with the original.<ref name="simply">{{cite book|title=The Elements of Style: 60 Minutes to Better Writing & Grammar (Unabridged Audiobook)|publisher=Simply Media|date=2008|quote=Gender issues, such as the exclusive use of "he", which was the standard in Strunk's day, have been changed to the modern usage of "his" or "her", "you", "they", or "the writer".}}</ref>