Leon Tebbetts papers

Publisher, author, illustrator, filmmaker, and book dealer Leon Harold Tebbetts was born on June 15, 1908. He graduated from Deering High School in Portland, Maine and studied briefly at Colby College before becoming a journalist with the Maine Sunday Telegram at the age of 20. In 1935, he self-published his first book, The Amazing Story of Maine, a geologic history of the state. This lead to the founding of his Falmouth Publishing House, which operated for more than twenty years and produced works by such notable authors as Marsden Hartley, Arthur MacDougal Jr., and Erskine Caldwell. Tebbetts did many of the illustrations for the works the press produced. His publishing career was interrupted when he was drafted into World War II, an experience which he later chronicled in his book Rough Draft, which was published in 1996. Following his return from the military, Tebbetts began but did not complete a feature-length film and opened a book store, which he operated for many years in Hallowell, Maine. He also continued to write and publish works, many of which were published by Valley Publishers. Tebbetts was married twice, first to Alice Cleaves, with whom he had a son, William. They divorced in 1935 and he later married Dorothy Haskell. They also had a son named William who died at a young age, in 1955. Tebbetts died on June 5, 1997, and his autobiography, Story of a Maine Publisher, was published the same year.