“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of ‘The Elements of Style.’ The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now while they’re happy.” — Dorothy Parker

Last time I wrote about Maine author E.B. White who penned several popular children’s books and, in 1959, revised and expanded William Strunk Jr.’s popular little writing guide. While I was writing about White it dawned on me (the light came on over Marblehead) that I had never written anything about the book itself. So, to rectify that oversight, here it is, a brief history of “The Elements of Style.”

William Strunk Jr. was born on July 1, 1869. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1890. In 1896, he earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University, where he would be an English professor for the next 46 years.

In 1918, Strunk wrote the first version of “The Elements of Style,” which he intended to be a helpful writing guide for his students. The following year, when one of those students was a “thoughtful young man named Elwyn Brooks White,” Professor Strunk self-published his booklet, which was then published by Harcourt in 1920.

According to the US Copyright Office, Strunk’s book “contained three main concepts: omit needless words, use active voice, and use parallel construction on concepts that are parallel.” The next edition of the book would be known as “The Elements and Practice of Composition” when it was released in 1935 following a reworking by Strunk and editor Edward A Tenney.

Eight years after his retirement from Cornell in 1937, Strunk would be diagnosed with “senile psychosis,” and would pass away in a psychiatric institute in Poughkeepsie, New York, shortly thereafter.

But rather than being forgotten following his death, Strunk’s little book would experience a rebirth when his former student E.B. White wrote about it in “Letters from the East,” his column for The New Yorker, on July 27, 1957. In that piece, White called his former professor’s book a “forty-three-page summation of the case for cleanliness, accuracy and brevity in the use of English.”

After reading White’s enthusiastic praise of the book, the folks at Macmillan and Co. commissioned him to revise and expand Strunk’s 1935 edition and republished it under its original title, “The Elements of Style.” (As a result of this collaboration, the book is often referred to simply as “Strunk and White” by those in the know.)

According to the Copyright Office, “An official second edition of Strunk and White’s version was not released until 1972. White produced it, as well as a third edition in 1979, extending the book to 85 pages.” In an interesting acknowledgement of the changing times, that latest edition dropped the comma out of “William Strunk Jr.” on its cover.

A fourth edition of the book published in 1999 was the first to be released following the death of E.B. White. This version includes a forward by White’s stepson, New Yorker writer and editor Roger Angell, while the forward to 2009’s 50th anniversary edition was written by television commentator Charles Osgood. The book’s 50th anniversary also saw the publication of its history called “Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk and White’s ‘The Elements of Style,'” written by Mark Garvey.

In 2011, Time magazine picked “The Elements of Style” as one of the “100 best and most influential (nonfiction books) written in English since 1923.” In the piece, writer Erin Skarda explains that “’The Elements of Style’ has managed to maintain its original purpose over the years, even as our language has become less formal. That’s because the rules aren’t suggestions but grammatical demands.”

Even though the little book has faced criticism for things such as its use of masculine pronouns and being an anachronism because of its “prescriptivist nature,” many writers still strongly recommend reading it. One of those writers is Stephen King, who in his book “On Writing,” says, “There is little or no detectable (BS) in that book.” He goes on to state, “I’ll tell you right now that every aspiring writer should read ‘The Elements of Style.’”

And they should read it now, while they’re happy.

Jim Witherell of Lewiston is a writer and lover of words whose work includes “L.L. Bean: The Man and His Company” and “Ed Muskie: Made in Maine.” He can be reached at [email protected].