H. L. Mencken was born in 1880 in Baltimore, Maryland to parents of German ancestry. He would remain a resident of the city throughout his life, and always took great pride in his German roots. First educated outside the home at the private Knapp's Institute, his formal education was completed at the public Baltimore Polytechnic. Mencken was a voracious reader, and though a college education was certainly accessible for him, he chose not to pursue one. Instead, he went to work in the family cigar business and took writing courses via correspondence school, hoping to launch a career in journalism. His father's early death relieved him of further responsibilities to the family business, and in 1899 he landed an entry-level job at the Baltimore Morning Herald, where his lengthy newspaper career began in earnest.H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan were co-editors of The Smart Set magazine from 1914 until 1923. They co-wrote several works together, works which appeared under their own names as well as under various noms de plume. Their most frequently used joint pen name was Owen Hatteras (i.e. Major Owen Hatteras, D.S.O.), which was also used as a "house pseudonym" for The Smart Set.