Editing Fred Rosenstock

{{Short description|Austrian-American bookseller and collector}}{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox person 
| name = Fred Rosenstock
| image = 
| caption = 
| birth_name = Selig Usher Rosenstock
| birth_date = {{birth date|1895|11|29}}
| birth_place = Biala Potok, [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], Austria 
| death_date = {{death date and age|1986|02|15|1895|11|29}}
| death_place = [[Denver]], [[Colorado]], U.S.
| death_cause = 
| resting_place = 
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| nationality =
| other_names = 
| known_for = 
| education = 
| alma mater = 
| employer = 
| occupation = Bookseller
| title =
| term = 
| predecessor = 
| successor = 
| party =
| boards = 
| spouse = {{marriage|Frances Goodman|1926|1972|end=died}}
| children = Marilyn Weiker
| parents = 
| relatives = 
}}
'''Fred Asher Rosenstock''' (November 29, 1895<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1002/records/17565314|title=U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942|via=[[Ancestry.com]]|access-date=April 8, 2025}}</ref> &ndash; February 15, 1986) was an Austrian-born American [[book selling|bookseller]], book and art [[collectible|collector]] and publisher in [[Denver]], Colorado from the 1920s until the mid-1980s.

==Early life==
Fred Rosenstock was born '''Selig Usher Rosenstock''' in 1895 in Biala Potok in [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], then a province of [[Austria]] in the foothills of the [[Carpathian Mountains]].<ref name="autrybio">{{cite web|title=The Rosenstock Images Collection, 1860–1920 [picture] : at the Autry National Center|url=http://autry.iii.com/search/o=ocn166515366|website=[[Autry Museum of the American West]]|access-date=October 12, 2016}}</ref> His family [[emigration|emigrated]] to [[United States|America]] in 1904. He grew up in [[Rochester, New York]].<ref name="autrybio"/>

==Career==
During [[World War I]], Rosenstock moved to Washington, D.C. and worked both as a civilian and later in the [[United States Army|US Army]] as a [[secretary|stenographer]].<ref name="autrybio"/> After the war he worked for a [[billboard (advertising)|billboard]] company, but became ill. He was advised to move to a dry, desert climate such as California. He went west but never got past Denver.

Rosenstock had been interested in books from his youth, and by the time he was in Washington was a collector haunting the book shops and building a small collection. In Denver he continued collecting and in 1922 opened his first bookstore, the Denver Book Shop, an [[antiquarian]] book store. It was not a success. Later after marrying Frances Goodman, in 1928, he purchased an existing book store in a good location on 15th Street in Denver and renamed it the Bargain Book Store. He continued to collect and sell rare books but the main business of the Bargain Book Store was selling school textbooks. This line got the business through the [[Great Depression]]. The store burned in 1948 and was rebuilt.

Meanwhile, Rosenstock continued his interest in rare books developing an interest in western history. By 1960, he began liquidating his general book business and in 1962 opened Fred A. Rosenstock Books on East [[Colfax Avenue]] in Denver specializing in western history. Fred had also developed an interest in western art and had collected many of the paintings and sculptures of [[Charles Marion Russell]] which he displayed in his bookstore.

Rosenstock became recognized as the leading bookseller in the field of western history and located and sold many books to the important western history collections, notably to the library at [[Brigham Young University]] and the Denver Public Library. He was also a publisher operating as the Old West Publishing Company, issuing about 30 significant books. By 1975, Rosenstock sold his extensive art collection and he closed his bookstore.<ref name="autrybio"/> In 1972, Rosenstock opened a gallery of western art, which he operated until having a stroke in 1984.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection: Fred A. Rosenstock collection {{!}} BYU Library - Special Collections |url=https://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/11563 |access-date=2024-09-10 |website=archives.lib.byu.edu}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
Rosenstock married Frances Goodman in 1926.<ref name="autrybio"/> They had a daughter, Marilyn Weiker, in 1936.<ref name="autrybio"/> Rosenstock's wife died in 1972. Rosenstock suffered a stroke in 1984 and died two years later in 1986, at the age of 90.<ref>{{cite news|date=February 21, 1986|title=Western lore authority Rosenstock dies|pages=31|newspaper=[[Arizona Daily Star]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-daily-star-western-lore-authorit/169827911/|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date=April 8, 2025}}{{Open access}}</ref>

==Further reading==
* ''Fred Rosenstock, A Legend in Books & Art'', Donald E. Bower, Foreword by [[Frank Waters]], Northland Press, Flagstaff, Arizona, 1976, hardback, 212 pages.  {{oclc number|2673048}} {{ISBN|0873581490}} {{ISBN|9780873581493}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://archives.lib.byu.edu/agents/people/3902?&filter_fields%5B%5D=primary_type&filter_values%5B%5D=resource Collections related to Fred Rosenstock] in the [[L. Tom Perry Special Collections]], [[Harold B. Lee Library]], [[Brigham Young University]]
* {{Find a Grave|173920244}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenstock, Fred}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States]]
[[Category:People from Denver]]
[[Category:American booksellers]]
[[Category:American art collectors]]
[[Category:United States Army civilians]]