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A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING BUSINESS IN THE UNITED
STATES


“The history of a nation,” one dictionary says, “is a systematic record
of past events; especially the record of events in which man has taken
part.”

The history of the educational publishing business in America
is likewise a systematic record of past events in which man has
taken part. The events of this history include the beginning, the
development, and the wonderful improvement in books and book-making
since 1691, and the men and women who have taken part in these events
are authors and publishers.

Starr King, the eloquent preacher and orator whose powerful arguments
in 1860 and ’61 aided mightily in saving California for the Union, was
once riding on a very slow train from Boston to New York with a friend,
who asked Mr. King if he were going to fill a New York pulpit on the
following day, which was Sunday.

“No,” replied the great preacher, “I am not going to fill, but I am
going to rattle ’round in Henry Ward Beecher’s.”

A comprehensive history of the American educational publishing business
has never been prepared, although a number of writers have produced
interesting and instructive books, booklets, periodical, magazine,
and newspaper articles covering in some detail such portions of this
history as engaged their attention. For instance, Dr. Meriwether
and Professor Johnson have rather thoroughly and with reasonably
satisfactory completeness given us an account of the schoolbooks of
colonial times and of the clumsy and slow process of manufacturing
and distributing them. They have described in considerable detail the
gruesome text matter of these early books, and their ugly and almost
ludicrous illustrations.

Ford has given us a most interesting and historically valuable account
of the oldest American schoolbook, _The New England Primer_, prepared
and printed by Benjamin Harris of Boston, the second edition appearing
in 1691. This was printed 44 years _after_ Massachusetts had passed a
law requiring each town of fifty householders to “appoint one within
their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write
and read.” Others have written of the first Arithmetic, prepared by
Nicholas Pike of Newburyport, Mass., and printed in 1788; of the
first American Geography, written by the Reverend Jedidiah Morse
of Charlestown, Mass., and published at New Haven in 1784; of the
first pedagogical and educational book, written by Christopher Dock,
America’s pioneer writer on education, a second edition of which was
published by Christopher Sower of Philadelphia in 1770. Much has been
written concerning the world-famous Blue Back Speller, prepared by
Dr. Noah Webster and printed at Hartford in 1793; of Peter Parley’s
Geographies, the first of which was published in 1829. Dr. Henry H.
Vail, formerly connected with the American Book Company, has written a
most interesting history of the McGuffey Readers, of which the first
two books of the four-book series were copyrighted in 1836 and the
second two in 1837.

Then there have been published such books as _The House of Harper_,
which gives the history of a business concern now more than a hundred
years old; a most charmingly written biography of Henry O. Houghton,
the founder of the house now known as the Houghton Mifflin Company;
a memorial volume giving in some detail the story of the life and
activities of Henry Ivison, of the old firm of Ivison, Blakeman,
Taylor & Company; a book giving a rather complete account of several
century-old business houses, including that of Christopher Sower &
Company of Philadelphia; a volume entitled _Fifty Years Among Authors,
Books and Publishers_, by J. C. Derby; _Memories of a Publisher_, by
Major George Haven Putnam; a book on the _Old Schools and School-books
of New England_, by George E. Littlefield, and a brochure published by
G. & C. Merriam Company that gives us some interesting glimpses into
the history of their business and of the men who have published and
distributed to the world the famous Webster dictionaries.

There are also extant a great many valuable periodical, magazine and
newspaper articles which set forth in some detail accounts of the
founders of other nineteenth century publishing houses, which accounts,
together with what has appeared in book form, make a rather inchoate
but highly valuable mass of data that could and should be compiled and
published as soon as a scholarly man of historical habit can be found
to edit and prepare it for the press.

Having a knowledge of the facts just stated, you will agree with me
when I say that a writer of a paper to be read in thirty or sixty
minutes on a subject so broad in its scope and so important as the one
assigned me, can’t do more than “rattle ’round” in its field, to quote
Starr King’s figure. If he should try to do more, he would be tempting
the Fates.

Realizing, as you must, how unsatisfactory the isolated and unrelated
fragments of our history are, do you not feel, as do I, that this
Association should take early steps to find a thoroughly competent man
to prepare for the fraternity of educational publishers a complete
history of their business in America from the day when _The New England
Primer_ was printed in Boston to the present time?

The attention of people is frequently called to the great march of
progress since colonial days in all that helps to make the world a
better place in which to live. It is truthfully said that both medicine
and surgery have been perfected to such a high degree that the length
of human life greatly has been increased; that sanitary science is
so well understood, and its principles so generally practiced, that
disease germs born in filth no longer exist in such abundance as in the
days when, because of the ignorance or indifference of the majority of
the population, food, air, and water carried these breeders of disease
to their unhappy victims. We are reminded of the electric light, the
telegraph, the wireless, the ocean cable, and the telephone; of the
leviathan of the ocean--the great and palatial steamship that crosses
the Atlantic in five days; of the aeroplane that has demonstrated
its ability to fly across seas, oceans, and wide expanses of land,
carrying passengers and mail at a speed almost inconceivable; of the
transcontinental lines of railroad that transport people in comfort
from ocean to ocean in six or seven days; of the splendid specimens of
art housed in our great museums; of the beautiful homes, the really
elegant school and college buildings, the great business structures
planned by architects as skilled as any the world has produced since
the days of the Greeks and the Moors; of the sewing machine, the
reaper, the steam plow, the powerful motor truck, and the automobile;
of the mighty steel bridges that span our wide rivers; and, in view of
all this, we are told by the historian and the philosopher that the
last century has been the Golden Age of the world, that all this has
brought man a little closer to God, and God a little closer to man.

The twentieth century school or college textbook, and the means
employed in making it, evidence a progress in the art of book-making
and the character of the book made equally wonderful; for the modern
educational publication differs in content and format from the textbook
of the early days even more than the modern schoolhouse from the log
cabin used a century or two ago to shelter the unfortunate youngsters
who shivered and suffered therein while they were receiving such poor
instruction as ignorant masters and dames could give them.

But there are a great number of people in this country, some of
whom find their way into State, County, City, and Township Boards
of Education, who cannot be made to believe that a textbook of this
day and generation is very much, if any, better than the textbook
of a century or even a half century ago. To their minds one book is
practically as good as another, no matter whether modern or old. This,
of course, is like saying that the ugly chromos that adorned (?) the
walls of the parlors of country and many city homes fifty years ago
were as useful and beautiful as works of art as the artistic, oils,
etchings, and water-colors that one may now see commonly in the city
and country homes of cultured people.

The New York _Sun_ said editorially, May 16, 1915, “Advance in the
United States in its schools and improvement in the textbooks have been
as great as in any other phase of American life.” _The New England
Journal_ of June 24, 1909, said substantially the same thing in
slightly different language, but in addition this: “The modern sewer
system is no greater improvement over that of 1840 than the examples
and problems contained in modern arithmetics over those printed as of
that date.”

In what respects does the modern schoolbook differ markedly
from its forebears of the eighteenth and the first half of the
nineteenth centuries? A careful examination and inspection of the
new in comparison with the old convinces one that the new differs
radically from the old in (1) content, including both text matter and
illustrations; (2) typography and printing; (3) binding; (4) maps;
(5) size; and altogether in its much greater attractiveness as an
educational instrument.

Allow me to take a snapshot or two at some of the peculiar text matter
printed in the American schoolbooks of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, in order that I may more clearly emphasize the contrast
between the new and the old. I pass over the text of _The New England
Primer_ with its

  In Adam’s fall
  We sinned all.

  Zaccheus he
  Did climb a tree,
  Our Lord to see.

and

  A dog will bite
  A thief at night,

reminding you only that the bulk of the book was composed of extracts
from the Bible, of hymns, and of moral teachings; that the backbone
of this book--misnamed a primer, for it was not a primer at all as
we now understand the term--was the Westminster Assembly’s Shorter
Catechism, which Cotton Mather called “a little watering-pot to shed
good lessons”; and lastly, that this primer was the only reader that
children had until they were able to read the Bible. As dreadful as
many of the doctrines taught in the Westminster Assembly’s Shorter
Catechism were, Cotton Mather urged writing masters to set sentences
from it to be copied by their pupils.

Comparing itself with this earliest American schoolbook, the modern
primer might, in the language of Chaucer, say without being guilty of
immodesty:

  “O little booke, thou art so onconning,
   How darst thou put thyself in prees for drede?”

George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends, published in 1674 a
Primer in England. This was republished in Philadelphia in 1701, in
Boston in 1743, and in Newport in 1769. The book was not much used
except by Friends.

The text matter of Jonathan Fisher’s _A Youth’s Primer_, printed
in 1817, followed closely the text of _The New England Primer_. It
contained a series of short stories in alphabetical order, each
followed by a religious, moral, or historical observation. The poor
youngsters who were forced to read, day after day, from the pages of
these early books, whose text matter was certainly lugubrious and
distressing, were constantly reminded of death, the grave, a wrathful
God, and a burning hell prepared for the wicked.

The text matter of the early Arithmetics, while not as gruesome as that
of the Readers, was in many respects so peculiar as to be quite beyond
the understanding of the twentieth century teacher. Allow me to call
your attention to two or three of the puzzling things contained in “Old
Pike,” as his Arithmetic was commonly known.

  When tare and tret and doff are allowed:

  Deduct the tare and tret, and divide the suttle by 168, and the
  quotient will be the cloff, which subtract from the suttle, and
  the remainder will be the neat.

These definitions will help you to understand the old terms:

  _Tare_ is an allowance, made to the buyer, for the weight of the
  box, barrel, or bag which contains, the goods bought.

  _Tret_ is an allowance of 4 lbs. in every 104 lbs. for waste,
  dust, etc.

  _Cloff_ is an allowance of 2 lbs. upon every 3 cwt.

  _Suttle_ is, when part of the allowance is deducted.

  _Neat_ weight is what remains after all allowances are made.

The following rule is another of Pike’s puzzles. This tells how to find
the Gregorian Epact:

  Subtract 11 from the Julian Epact. If the subtraction cannot
  be made, add 30 to the Julian Epact, then subtract, and the
  remainder will be the Gregorian Epact. If nothing remains, the
  Epact is 29.

You doubtless remember that an epact is the excess of the solar year
over the twelve lunar months, or about eleven days.

In Walsh’s _Mercantile Arithmetic_, published in 1807, there is an
example that certainly would not have pleased Neal Dow. This is the
problem:

  If 8 boarders drink a barrel of cider in 12 days, how long would
  it last if 4 more came among them?

I quote another problem that must surely have sent the distracted
teacher to her dictionary for first aid to the tormented:

  How much will 189 bazar maunds (a maund = 82.14 lbs.) 31 seer (a
  seer = 2.06 lbs.) 8 chattacks (a chattack = 1/16 of a seer, or 2
  oz.) of sugar come to, at 6 rupees per maund?

One arithmetic maker, Jacob Willetts, of Poughkeepsie, set many of his
problems in rhyme; for instance,

          When first the marriage knot was ty’d
              Between my wife and me,
          My age was to that of my bride,
              As three times three to three.
          But now when ten, and half ten years
              We man and wife have been,
          Her age to mine exactly bears,
              As eight is to sixteen;
          Now tell, I pray, from what I’ve said,
              What were our ages when we wed?

  _Ans._--Thy age, when marry’d, must have been
          Just forty-five; thy wife’s fifteen.

Dillworth’s _Schoolmaster’s Assistant_, first published in London in
1774 and reprinted in Philadelphia in 1769, and considerably used in
the colonies, contains two examples which the author called “Pleasant
and Diverting Questions.” The first is as follows:

  A farmer with a fox, a goose and a bag of corn has to cross a
  river in a boat so small that he can take only two of these three
  burdens with him at a time. How can he so handle matters that
  nothing will be destroyed, because he cannot leave the fox and
  the goose together, nor can he leave the goose and the corn.

The next was an example, the solution of which might possibly be of
practical help to distressed husbands:

  Three jealous husbands, each with a wife, meet on a river bank.
  How are they to cross so that none of the wives is left in the
  company of one or two men unless her husband is also present?

As poor, from our point of view, as most of these old Arithmetics were,
George Washington cordially recommended Pike’s as “of great assistance
to children desiring to learn the art of figuring.” The pages in many
of these early books were printed like those in the Adams, a copy
of which I am able to show you, issued in 1814 at Keene, N. H. The
text matter, as you see, occupies but a small part of the page, the
rest being left to be filled with the solutions of problems that the
children had first worked out on smooth shingles, scraps of paper,
or slates, and then copied neatly on the pages where the solutions
belonged. All these printed books were, of course, a great improvement
over the Master’s notebook of an earlier time, from which rules and
problems were copied by the children, they not possessing a printed
text.

Note.--(1) In the library of Mr. George Plimpton are more than 300
different Arithmetics printed before 1601, the largest collection ever
brought together.

Note.--(2) These old arithmeticians are responsible for what we know as
the one-sixth discount, for they advertised their books at, say, $10.00
the dozen, the single copy $1.00.

Note.--(3) They were the pioneers in collecting and printing before the
prefaces of their books, as Adams did before his preface, complimentary
testimonials of their books--a practice that the modern publisher would
hardly dare to follow.

If the text matter of the early Readers was in many cases gruesome and
distressing in its effect upon the youthful mind, and the explanations,
rules, and problems in early Arithmetics were at times ludicrous and
extremely puzzling, it is also the fact that much of the text printed
in the first American Geographies was ridiculous because the writers
frequently indulged their imaginations at the expense of geographical
fact. Let me quote two or three examples showing how imagination played
havoc with the truth. Dwight’s _Question and Answer Geography_, printed
at Hartford in 1798, contains the following:

  Q. What are the customs and diversions of the Irish?

  A. There are a few customs existing in Ireland peculiar to this
  country; these are their funeral howlings and presenting their
  corpses in the streets to excite the charity of strangers, their
  convivial meetings on Sunday, and dancing to bagpipes, which are
  usually attended with quarreling.

Even the scholarly Morse, the author of the first Geography printed in
the United States, indulges in some picturesque flights of imagination,
as when he writes that the great men of the Friendly Islands “are fond
of a singular kind of luxury, which is, to have women sit beside them
all night, and beat on different parts of their body until they go to
sleep; after which, they relax a little of their labour, unless they
appear likely to wake; in which case they redouble their exertions,
until they are again fast asleep.” A careful reading of Mariner’s
_Account of the Friendly Islands_, a book published by John Murray &
Sons in London in 1817, thirty-four years after Morse published his
first Geography, reveals no account of any such custom, and Mariner
lived in the Friendly Islands for a number of years.

Adams declares in his Geography, published in 1814, that “the White
Mountains are the highest, not only in New Hampshire, but in the
United States.” Of course he was speaking of the United States of
1814,--territory consisting of the original thirteen states and
Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and Louisiana, admitted at the time when
Adams wrote his book,--but he evidently didn’t know that Mt. Mitchell
in North Carolina, the highest peak east of the Mississippi, is more
than 400 feet higher than the mountain that bears Washington’s name.

If the geographers drew upon their imaginations when describing the
physical features of the country, so also did the statesmen. That
great apostle of democracy, Thomas Jefferson, sent a communication to
Congress after the Louisiana Purchase, conveying what he considered
good information about the new possession. The most curious statement
in this strange document was about the mountain of salt. He informed
Congress that this mountain was said to be 180 miles long, 45 miles
wide, and all of white, glittering salt, with salt rivers flowing from
cavities at the base. In all probability Lewis and Clark disillusioned
Mr. Jefferson in 1806, when they returned from their trip to the
Pacific coast and gave accurate descriptions of the country they had
traversed.

The first English Grammar written in America was prepared by Professor
Jones, a mathematical professor, as Dr. Chandler tells me, at William
and Mary College. This book was written about 1703 and was printed
in London. Only one copy of this grammar is now known, and that is
contained in a London collection. Another book was prepared by Caleb
Bingham, the first edition of which was printed in 1799. It was called
_The Young Lady’s Accidence_. This was the first English Grammar used
in the Boston schools. Its only predecessor used in this country was
Part II of Webster’s _Grammatical Institute_.

Lindley Murray left his native country and settled in England in 1784.
The following year he wrote and published in England his _Grammar of
the English Language_. This Grammar was the standard textbook for fifty
years throughout England and America.

The illustrations in the early schoolbooks were as bad or worse than
the text matter. They were not only entirely lacking in artistic
quality, but, worse than that, they frequently pictured horrible
things that the child during his school day had constantly under
his observation. What twentieth century publisher would dare to
use illustrations in Readers, Geographies, or any other textbooks,
picturing the burning of an unfortunate victim at the stake, a widow
burning on the funeral pyre of her husband, or the bloody details of an
Indian massacre? And yet these awful things are pictured in a Geography
not yet a hundred years old.

Nearly all the books that appeared prior to 1840 were printed from
type, for neither the stereotype nor the electrotype plate was in use
before that time. Dr. Vail tells us that the early editions of the
McGuffey Readers, copyrighted, as I have said, in 1836 and 1837, were
so printed. The type impressions of the limited editions were clear and
distinct for the most part. Whether these impressions would have been
clear had as large and as many editions been printed from standing type
as we now print from plates, is of course a matter of conjecture.

It is not necessary to remind you that publishers may to-day furnish a
duplicate set of plates to any concern on earth desiring to reproduce
one of their books, and that the book may be reprinted by the purchaser
without the bother and expense of resetting the type; but the printer
of the early days was not so fortunate, for if a concern in New York
wished to reprint and sell a book originally printed in Boston, he was
obliged to reset it, taking as copy the Boston production.

You remember that stereotyping was not perfected by Stanhope until
1800, and that stereotype plates were not used in the manufacturing of
schoolbooks until a later date, but that they were commonly used before
electrotyping came into general use about 1860, though the Harpers
used electrotyping in 1840 to duplicate wood cuts; that wood engraving
was used in Europe in 1830, but much earlier in China; that copper
engraving was used as early as 1450; that steel engraving was invented
by Perkins, of Newburyport, Mass., in 1814; that the three-color
process plate was first made by Frederick Ives of Philadelphia in 1881,
but that the development of color work in schoolbooks has been within
the last forty years.

You recall the fact that the Adams or flat press was largely used
until 1875; that the first flat-bed cylinder press used in America was
a Napier brought from England in 1825; that in 1860 William Bullock
began to experiment on a rotary self-feeding or web printing press, and
finally achieved success in 1865. The web rotary press, as we know, can
turn out about ten times as much work in a given time as the flat-bed
cylinder press. Considering the fact that many millions of textbooks
are now printed annually, requiring the service of high power rotary
presses to print their sheets in season for use, is it not indeed
fortunate for the educational world that human skill has perfected such
a really wonderful instrument as this great machine, so splendidly
equipped for the accomplishment of this gigantic task?

The binding of books until a comparatively recent date was entirely
done by hand. The process was so slow that only a few books could be
bound in a day, even by the largest establishment. Folding machines
were not used by binders until 1875, rounding and backing machines
until about 1888, sewing machines and case-making machines until about
1890, gathering machines until about 1895, casing-in machines until
about 1900. It is well known to you that a modern bindery in which
up-to-date machinery is installed is able to produce per day from
20,000 to 60,000 three-hundred-page sewed books of octavo size. It
is therefore evident that there has been as wonderful an improvement
in the method of binding books in the last century as in the method
of printing them, and that the output of a modern bindery is now so
enormous that it would have made the heads of the early hand binders
dizzy just to think of it.

_The New England Primer_ was, of course, bound by hand. Its covers were
of thin oak that cracked and splintered badly with use, in spite of
the coarse blue paper that was pasted over the wood. The back was of
leather. Neither back nor sides had any printing on them. Yet, despite
its ugly appearance, this book has had a sale of at least two million
copies since Harris first printed it in or before 1691.

The binding of the old Blue Back Speller until 1829 consisted of back
of leather and sides of thin oaken boards pasted over with a dull blue
paper. “Blue paper of a somewhat brighter tint,” says Johnson, “was
used on the later editions, which gave rise to the name _Blue Back_.”
This book, as you know, has enjoyed a sale larger than that of any
other schoolbook ever made in this or any other country--a sale which
Mr. Appleton has recently told me has reached the stupendous figure of
sixty-four millions of copies.

Adams’ Arithmetic, which I have shown you, you observe was covered with
leather pasted over a very thin pasteboard. It had no headbands, and
its sheets were stitched by hand. Leather binding on the larger books,
Dr. Vail tells us, persisted for a number of years after the beginning
of the nineteenth century. This gentleman informs us that the First
Reader of the original McGuffey series made a thin 18mo book of 72
pages, having green paper covered sides.

Peter Parley’s _Method of Telling About Geography_, published in
1829, was a thin, square little book with leather back and flexible
pasteboard sides. His _National Geography_, published in 1845, was the
earliest to take the large, flat quarto shape. This form enabled it to
include good-sized maps and do away with the necessity for a separate
atlas.

Cover designs were not used until quite late in the nineteenth century,
and of course books whose covers bore no designs of any sort were far
less attractive than those bound to-day.

In 1874, under the direction of Mr. James McNally, of Rand McNally
& Company, that concern began the publication of atlases, pocket
and large wall maps. In 1872, the Company had introduced the then
new relief line engraving process for making maps--a process which
revolutionized the methods of that day and cut the cost of production
by several hundred per cent. Maps that can now be bought for from 25
cents to $1.00 each used to cost, under the old method of map making,
all the way from $5.00 to $10.00 apiece. The modern map, well and
thoroughly made, records faithfully every fact concerning the surface
of the earth now known to man, and there is very little about it that
scholarly geographers do not now know. In addition to the modern map’s
accuracy, it is as much more attractive than its forebears to the eye
as the beautiful color pictures now used in textbooks are seen to be
when compared with the muddy wood cuts that appeared in schoolbooks a
century or more ago.

It is not necessary for me to speak in such a presence as this of
the contents of modern schoolbooks in order to point out how vastly
superior in every respect they are to the contents of books of the
earlier days. It would be a work of supererogation for me to comment at
length, for instance, upon the character of the literature now included
in reading books, or to note the scientific work that is now commonly
done in the preparation of one of the most difficult books to prepare,
namely, the primer, whose text matter and vocabulary are so splendidly
adapted to the capacity of the young child, and whose illustrations
picture his pets, his toys, his games, his playmates, and other things
with which he is thoroughly familiar. I asked a literary friend to pick
out a half dozen of the choicest selections of literature that he knew
in modern readers. He replied as follows:

“Even a cursory survey of modern school readers soon reveals that no
period in the whole world’s literature has been neglected as a source
of selection. We have majestic passages from the Bible, Shakespeare,
Milton, Bacon, and Bunyan. The later centuries of English literature
afford the names of Sir Walter Scott, Wordsworth, Shelley, Browning,
Dickens, Thackeray, and on to Tennyson and Stevenson. The early
classic American period contributes freely from Longfellow, Lowell,
Emerson, Thoreau, and Irving, and our early patriots and philosophers
like Washington, Patrick Henry, Franklin, and Lincoln, live to-day
in the school readers. Even our modern authors have their place.
James Whitcomb Riley, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Joel
Chandler Harris, and a score of others are no strangers to the child
who has in his possession a school reader of the present day. If these
were not enough, we have occasional excursions into the Greek and Roman
myths, and for the little people touches of the fascinating German and
Scandinavian folklore.

“Most wonderful of all, however, is the skill of the editors and
publishers of these modern readers in selecting from this world-wide
galaxy of authors just the particular poem, tale, or episode that the
childish mind can assimilate and digest, and thus be left not only with
an introduction to these famous authors, but better yet with a desire
to know more of them.”

Recently it was my pleasure to examine the illustrations in a set of
modern school readers. I found in them a number of pictures beautifully
done in color, copied from some of the masterpieces of world-famous
artists, as, for instance, _The Age of Innocence_, by Reynolds, _The
Blue Boy_, Gainsborough, _The Melon Eaters_, Murillo, _Portrait of a
Man_, Franz Hals, _King David_, Rubens, _Mona Lisa_, Leonardo da Vinci,
_The Tapestry Weavers_, Velasquez, _The Architect_, Rembrandt, as well
as many others made from drawings cleverly done by artists of manifest
ability. The pictures in this series of readers were evidently selected
with as much care as the text, which contained selections of high
literary value.

“If I were asked,” said James Russell Lowell, “what book is better than
a cheap book, I should answer that there is one book better than a
cheap book, and that is a book honestly come by.”

Prior to the enactment of state copyright laws, the first of which was
passed by Connecticut in 1783 and the last of which were enacted by
Georgia and New York in 1786, and the passage of a national copyright
law by Congress in 1790, literary property had no protection whatever
against piracy. Printers could help themselves _ad lib._ to books of
all kinds turned out by other printers. Dr. Noah Webster, realizing the
danger to an author arising from such piracy, labored diligently for
many years to secure the enactment of a copyright law. He pleaded that
the Constitution of the United States authorized Congress to “promote
the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times
to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective
writings and discoveries.”

Previous to the adoption of the Constitution in 1787, the nation
had no power to act, but on Madison’s motion Congress in May, 1783,
recommended the states to pass acts securing copyright for fourteen
years. Dr. Webster traveled from state to state, urging members of
legislatures to secure the passage of copyright laws in their states,
and some thirteen states did pass such laws prior to the national act;
but when Congress finally took action in the matter, Webster’s work
was done. It was to his great advantage and that of all authors who
have produced books subsequent to 1790 that a national law preventing
the stealing of literary property was passed. To Noah Webster and his
successful work in securing the enactment of a national copyright law,
the literary world owes a great debt.

The international copyright bill passed Congress March 3, 1891, thanks
to the diligent and unceasing labors of Mr. W. W. Appleton, the present
President of the Copyright League, Major George Haven Putnam, its
Secretary, and Robert Underwood Johnson.

It is my hope that this brief and most incomplete historical sketch
will convince us afresh of the truth of such almost axiomatic
statements as that made in the New York _Sun_ in 1915, namely, that
the advance in the United States in textbooks has been as great as in
any other phase of American life. Large credit is due both to authors
and to publishers for this really wonderful advancement, for both
have keenly realized the truth of Disraeli’s epigram which declared
that “the youth of a nation are the trustees of posterity,” and have
labored diligently to place in the hands of this youth books sound in
their pedagogy, accurate as to facts, inspiring in their influence, and
as attractive as possible in their appearance, to the end that these
trustees of posterity may be sent from the schools full armed to cope
successfully with ignorance, foolish and dangerous theories concerning
religious and political life, and all other evils that now or in the
future may menace our civilization.

The immortal Milton declared that “a good book is the precious life
blood of a master spirit.” It has been and will continue to be the
happy privilege of the publisher to clothe the good book of the master
spirit in a style befitting its character, and to place it within
the reach of those who should have its message. That the educational
publisher is doing that work with much greater skill now than at any
time during the past two centuries is manifest; that he will, as time
grows apace, do it increasingly better, who can doubt?




A BRIEF HISTORY OF AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS


Allow me to close this paper by giving a brief record of the
organization of the houses now engaged in educational publishing,
mentioning the titles of some of the earlier textbooks produced. In
this brief record I have considered the history of these houses in
chronological sequence rather than in alphabetical order, beginning
with the earliest American house engaged in textbook publishing.


CHRISTOPHER SOWER COMPANY.--Christopher Sower (Saür), the founder
of this house, issued in 1733 as his first venture in publishing, a
_schoolbook_ entitled _Ein A B C und Buchstabier Buch_. In 1747 he
published a German and English Grammar; in 1750, _The Golden A B C,
or the School of Knowledge in Rhymes_ (English translation of German
title); in 1771, _The New England Primer, Enlarged_. Although he began
publishing in German, he was soon printing in both German and English,
and he issued from six to twelve books a year until his death. His most
important educational publication was _Die Schul-Ordnung_, written
by Christopher Dock, a remarkable schoolmaster in Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania. This is known as the first American treatise on school
teaching.

In 1758 Christopher Sower was succeeded by his son, Christopher
Sower, 2nd, and he by his son, Samuel. In 1799 another son, David,
Sr., took charge of the business. In 1842 Charles G., son of David,
Jr., succeeded his father. In 1888, 150 years after the founding, the
firm was incorporated as the Christopher Sower Company, with Charles
D. Sower as President. In 1910 the officers were: Albert M. Sower,
President; James L. Pennypacker, Vice President; Daniel B. Hassan,
Secretary and Treasurer.


LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY, INC.--This business began as a retail store
started by Ebenezer Battelle in Boston in 1784. Four years later the
concern issued its first book and became a publisher in the strict
sense of the word. From 1784 to 1913 there was a succession of partners
entering and leaving the organization, and in the early days the name
of the house was changed frequently, according to the changes in
partnership. The name of Little & Brown was adopted in 1830, when James
Brown and Charles C. Little owned the business. James Brown may more
truly be called the founder of the present house than any other one
man. In 1898 Little, Brown & Company absorbed the successful publishing
firm of Roberts Brothers of Boston, thereby securing a large
miscellaneous line, including the works of Louisa Alcott. In 1913 the
house was incorporated as Little, Brown & Company, Inc., without change
in the personnel of the organization.

The present educational enterprise of this company was started in
May, 1904, and the first two schoolbooks of the present list were a
school edition of _The Man Without a Country_, and the series known
as the _Wide Awake Readers_. Little, Brown & Company are known as the
publishers of Bancroft’s _History of the United States_, also of Daniel
Webster’s works.


BENZIGER BROTHERS.--This firm was founded in 1792 in Einsiedeln,
Switzerland, by Joseph Charles Benziger. In 1883, he was succeeded by
his sons, Charles and Nicholas Benziger.

In 1853, the New York house was founded. J. N. Adelrich Benziger, a
son of Charles, and Louis, a son of Nicholas, took charge of the New
York house. The American firm is now entirely independent of its parent
house in Switzerland. In 1860 a branch house was opened in Cincinnati,
Ohio. In 1880, Nicholas C. Benziger became a partner. His father,
Nicholas, was a partner in Einsiedeln, and was the son of Nicholas
mentioned above. In 1887, a branch house was opened in Chicago. In
1894, Louis G. Benziger, son of Louis, became a partner, retiring in
1914. In 1912 Xavier N. Benziger, and in 1919 Bernard A. Benziger, both
sons of Nicholas C., became partners.

This firm has been publishing schoolbooks since 1860. From 1874 to 1877
the _Gilmour Readers_ were published. _The Catholic National Readers_
were brought out in the years 1889-1894. _The New Century Catholic
Readers_ were issued from 1903 to 1905. The house has also published
a _History of the United States_ in two volumes, an _Elementary
Geography_, _Advanced Geography_, and two series of Arithmetics.

The present partners of the firm are Nicholas C. Benziger and his sons,
Xavier N. and Bernard A. Benziger.


BENJ. H. SANBORN & CO.--Mr. Young, the present President of this
organization, writes:

“The records of the family tree of the Sanborn publications go back
into the eighteenth century. The predecessors of the present concern
appear to have been in the textbook business from the beginning, and
to have specialized in English grammars. The earliest trace we have
is of the publication of Staniford’s _Short but Comprehensive Grammar
Rendered Simple and Easy by Familiar Questions and Answers Adapted to
the Capacity of Youth_. This was printed by Mannering & Loring, of
Boston, January, 1797. Later came _The Elements of English Grammar_ by
Adoniram Judson in 1808. Following Mannering & Loring came the firm of
Loring & Edmunds. They were the publishers of Lindley Murray’s Grammar.
Following Loring & Edmunds came Robert S. Davis, then Robert S. Davis
& Company, then Leach, Shewell & Sanborn, and now Benj. H. Sanborn &
Company.

“In addition to the Lindley Murray Grammar, one of the notable
achievements of the predecessors of Benj. H. Sanborn & Company was the
publication of the Greenleaf Arithmetics. The first contract for these
books goes back to 1832. Greenleaf, by the way, a Maine teacher, sold
the copyright of his first book for $10,000 in gold. This was more
money than Greenleaf had ever seen before in his life, and he at once
took the boat to Boston to deposit it.”


JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.--Charles Wiley established the business in
1807. John Wiley came into it as a clerk in 1820 and continued until
1890. He had associated with him at various times George Palmer Putnam,
Mr. Long, and Robert Halsted. The concern became John Wiley & Sons in
1865. Major William H. Wiley entered it in 1875, and W. O. Wiley in
1890. The house was incorporated in 1904.

The first educational publication was a _History of the United States_,
which was issued by the founder of the house just after the War of
1812, and contained an account of that war. The first technical book
was published in 1819, entitled _A View of the Lead Mines of Missouri_,
by Henry R. Schoolcraft.


HARPER & BROTHERS.--This house was founded in 1817 by John Harper,
Wesley Harper, James Harper, and Fletcher Harper. Harper & Brothers
began to publish educational books in 1836, the title of their
first publication being Professor Anthon’s Classical Series. Some
of their most notable educational books are the Harper Geographies,
Harper’s United States Series of Readers, Harper’s Arithmetics,
Rolfe’s Shakespeare, Swinton’s Language Books, Green’s _Short History
of the English People_, Harper’s Greek and Latin texts. In 1890 or
thereabouts, the American Book Company bought the educational list of
Harper & Brothers.

James Harper, the oldest brother of the original four Harpers, was
elected Mayor of New York City in 1844. He originated the idea of the
magazine, and Fletcher, who was an unusually fine business man, the
idea of _Harper’s Weekly_.


D. APPLETON & COMPANY.--Mr. Daniel Appleton, who was a dry goods
merchant in Boston, moved and established himself in business in New
York in 1825. He began the bookselling business at 16 Exchange Place
by the importation of editions of English books. The bookselling
business was soon carried on by Daniel Appleton’s eldest son, William
H. Appleton. The first book published in this country by Mr. Appleton
was a little volume entitled _Crumbs from the Master’s Table_, issued
in 1831. William H. Appleton became a partner with his father in 1838,
and the firm became D. Appleton & Company. In 1848, Daniel Appleton
retired, and William H. and his brother, John A. Appleton, became
partners in the business. Daniel Appleton died in 1849. His son, Daniel
Sidney Appleton, became a partner in 1849, and later George S. Appleton
and Samuel Francis Appleton, also sons of Daniel Appleton, became
partners. D. Appleton & Company was incorporated in 1897. Mr. W. W.
Appleton writes:

“I cannot give the exact time when educational books were first issued,
but somewhat late in the 1830’s a number of such works were published,
some of them in foreign languages--French, Spanish, and German--and
in the 40’s several more were added. In the 1850’s the educational
list became much more important and included Cornell’s Series of
Geographies, Quackenbos’s standard textbooks, Perkins’ Arithmetics,
Mandeville’s Readers, and a great number of educational books in the
Spanish language. One of the most interesting publications was Noah
Webster’s _Elementary Spelling Book_, which was originally issued in
Hartford as the first part of _A Grammatical Institute of the English
Language_. D. Appleton & Company secured the publication of Webster’s
_Speller_ in 1855, and it sold nearly a million copies a year up to the
beginning of the Civil War.”


VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & COMPANY.--The original firm of which this company
was the successor was Truman & Smith, organized about 1834 by William
B. Truman and Winthrop B. Smith. On June 2, 1834, this house published
an _Introduction to Ray’s Eclectic Arithmetic_. It was the firm’s first
schoolbook. Mr. Truman retiring, Mr. Smith carried on the business
of educational publishing in the second story over a small shop on
Main Street, Cincinnati. He was the sole proprietor of the McGuffey
Readers and his other publications from 1841 until about 1852. He then
admitted, as partners, Edward Sargent and Daniel Bartow Sargent, his
wife’s brothers, and the firm name became W. B. Smith & Co.

Mr. Smith made an arrangement with Clark, Austin & Smith, of New
York, to become the Eastern publishers of the McGuffey Readers, and
a duplicate set of plates was sent to New York. From these plates,
editions of the Readers were manufactured, largely at Claremont, N. H.,
bearing on the title page the imprint of Clark, Austin & Smith. The
Smith of this firm was Cornelius Smith, a brother of Winthrop B. Smith.

Mr. W. B. Smith retiring, a new firm under the name of Sargent, Wilson
& Hinkle was organized April 20, 1863, with Edward Sargent, Obed J.
Wilson, and Anthony H. Hinkle as partners, and with W. B. Smith and
D. B. Sargent as special partners. In 1866, Mr. Lewis Van Antwerp was
admitted as a partner, and on April 20, 1868, the firm of Sargent,
Wilson & Hinkle was dissolved. Mr. Sargent retired, and the new firm,
Wilson, Hinkle & Co., bought all the assets. Mr. Caleb Bragg in 1871
became a partner in Wilson, Hinkle & Co. On April 20, 1877, the firm
of Wilson, Hinkle & Co. was dissolved, and the business was purchased
by the new firm, Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., of which Lewis Van Antwerp,
Caleb S. Bragg, Henry H. Vail, Robert F. Leaman, A. Howard Hinkle, and
Henry T. Ambrose were the partners.

Mr. Van Antwerp retired January 22, 1890, just previous to the sale
of the copyrights and plates owned by the firm to the American Book
Company. The four active partners in that firm, each of whom had been
in the schoolbook business some twenty-five years, entered the employ
of the American Book Company. Mr. Bragg and Mr. Hinkle remained in
charge of the Cincinnati business, Dr. Vail and Mr. Ambrose went to New
York, the former as Editor-in-chief, the latter at first as Treasurer,
but later he became the President of the Company.

The most notable books published by these several firms, preceding
and including Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., were McGuffey’s Readers and
Speller, Ray’s Arithmetics, and Harvey’s Grammars.


G. & C. MERRIAM COMPANY.--The business was started in 1831, but the
publication of Webster’s Dictionary was not undertaken until 1843.
The founders were the brothers, George and Charles Merriam, and the
original copartnership style was G. & C. Merriam. In 1856 Homer Merriam
joined the other brothers, with no change in the firm style.

In 1882 the firm name was changed to G. & C. Merriam & Company, and
at that time Orlando M. Baker and H. Curtis Rowley were admitted to
partnership. In 1892 the copartnership was changed to a corporation,
styled G. & C. Merriam Company. George Merriam, one of the founders
of the company, died shortly before 1882, and about that time Charles
Merriam retired from the firm. Thereafter the active management of
the business devolved upon Mr. Baker and Mr. Rowley. Later Mr. K. N.
Washburn was made one of the Managers. Mr. Baker died in 1914, and at
the present time the active management of the business is in the hands
of Mr. Rowley, Mr. Baker’s two sons, A. G. Baker and H. W. Baker, and
Mr. Washburn.

The original firm of G. & C. Merriam, shortly after becoming
established in 1831, began publishing educational books in a small way.
The first of these publications seem to have been a series of school
readers, _The Child’s Guide_, _Village Reader_, etc. For many years,
however, and probably almost from the time that they acquired the
rights in Webster’s Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam and their successors
have confined their publications to the Genuine Webster Dictionaries.


WILLIAM H. SADLIER.--The founder of the business was Denis Sadlier, who
organized a general Catholic publishing house in 1835. In 1841, James,
the brother of Denis, was admitted to partnership, the firm name being
D. & J. Sadlier & Co. Upon the death of the original partners, the firm
was continued by James F., the son of Denis Sadlier.

In 1872, William H. Sadlier left the old firm and started a purely
textbook publishing house. His first books were the Excelsior
Geographies, followed shortly by the Excelsior Histories and Readers,
and then a general line of Catholic textbooks. William H. Sadlier died
in 1877 and the business was continued by his widow, Annie M. Sadlier,
who still lives and who may rightfully claim to be the original
business woman of New York. A law had to be passed in the Assembly
permitting her to do business under her husband’s name. Mrs. Sadlier
retired about ten years ago, and the business is now being conducted
by her son, Frank X. Sadlier, of the third generation. The surviving
textbooks of the original firm are now being published by the firm of
William H. Sadlier, which is the lineal successor of the original firm
of D. & J. Sadlier & Company.


G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS.--This firm was founded in 1837 by the late George
Palmer Putnam, who was born at Brunswick, Maine, in 1814 and died
in 1872. The London House was established in 1841. Some years after
the death of Mr. George Palmer Putnam, the firm was changed into a
corporation under the laws of the State of New York. Since 1880, the
President of the corporation has been Major George Haven Putnam, who
was born in London in 1844.

Educational books, that is to say, books for the use of higher
grade students, have been included in the Putnam list, but common
school books have not been included. The first book coming under the
description of “educational” published by the house was _The Tabular
Views of Universal History_, compiled in 1832 by the late George Palmer
Putnam.

The present firm consists of Major George Haven Putnam, Irving Putnam,
Sidney Haven Putnam, Edmund W. Putnam, and George Palmer Putnam, under
the firm name of G. P. Putnam’s Sons.


A. S. BARNES & COMPANY.--The business of this firm was begun by
Mr. A. S. Barnes about 1837 at Hartford, Conn., but soon moved to
Philadelphia, Pa., where the title of the firm was changed to A. S.
Barnes & Burr, Mr. Burr being a brother-in-law of Mr. Barnes. A few
years later the business was moved to 51 John Street, New York City.
The name of Burr disappeared from the firm early in its New York days,
and the title became A. S. Barnes & Company. After a few years at 51
John Street, the business was moved to 111-113 William Street, where it
remained until 1890, when the textbook publications were purchased by
the American Book Company. During the period between the establishment
of the business in New York and 1890, Mr. Barnes took in as partners,
in the order named, his son Alfred C. Barnes, Henry W. Curtis, Charles
J. Barnes, a nephew, and Henry B. Barnes, Edwin M. Barnes, Richard S.
Barnes, and William D. Barnes, all sons of A. S. Barnes. At the time of
the sale of the business to the American Book Company, the partners
of the firm consisted of the five sons of A. S. Barnes, and Charles J.
Barnes of Chicago.

In 1837, Mr. A. S. Barnes published a series of mathematical books
written by Professor Charles Davies. Other well-known publications
of the house were Monteith’s Geographies, Barnes’ Histories, Parker
and Watson’s Readers, Barnes’ Readers, Steele’s Science Series, and
Maxwell’s Grammars.


CHARLES E. MERRILL COMPANY.--Mr. Merrill writes:

“It appears that the original house was founded by William G. Webster,
a son of Dr. Noah Webster, author of the Dictionary, and Lucius E.
Clark, a farmer’s son who was born at Washington, Conn., July 4, 1814.
They began business under the name of Webster & Clark in 1842. A few
years later Mr. Webster retired and Mr. Clark, associated with Jeremiah
B. Austin of Wallingford, Conn., continued the business under the name
of Clark & Austin. Soon afterward Cornelius Smith of W. B. Smith & Co.
of Cincinnati became a partner and the firm name was changed to Clark,
Austin & Smith. In 1859, Mr. Smith died and the firm was reorganized
under the name of Clark, Austin, Maynard & Company, Effingham Maynard
and Livingston Snedeker being admitted to partnership.

“The Civil War, beginning two years later, brought disaster to
the firm. A large amount of money due from Southern customers was
uncollectable and after a desperate struggle to hold over, a compromise
with its creditors became necessary. After obtaining releases from
creditors, the business was resumed in 1863 by Clark & Maynard, whose
careful and efficient management enabled them in 1872 to pay in full,
principal and interest, all the debts from which the firm of Clark,
Austin, Maynard & Company had been released. Their most notable
contributions to textbook publishing were the Anderson Historical
Series and the Reed & Kellogg Grammars.

“Mr. Clark retired from business at the close of 1888, and Mr. Maynard,
with Mr. Everett Yeaw of Lawrence, Mass., continued the business
under the firm name of Effingham Maynard & Company. In 1893, the firm
consolidated with that of Charles E. Merrill & Company, consisting of
Charles E. Merrill and Edwin C. Merrill, the resulting organization
being incorporated under the name of Maynard, Merrill & Company. Its
officers were Effingham Maynard, Charles E. Merrill, Everett Yeaw, and
Edwin C. Merrill. Mr. Maynard died in 1899. Mr. Charles E. Merrill
bought the Maynard interest from the two sons of Mr. Maynard, and the
name of the corporation was changed to Charles E. Merrill Company.
In 1910 Mr. Yeaw, now the head of Newson & Company, retired from the
organization, which was joined a few years later by Mr. Edwin W.
Fielder. The present officers are Charles E. Merrill, President,
Charles E. Merrill, Jr., Vice President, Halsey M. Collins, Secretary,
and Edwin W. Fielder, Treasurer. These officers, with Harold S. Brown,
are the directors.”


IVISON, BLAKEMAN, TAYLOR & COMPANY.--Mr. Henry Ivison, a bookseller
at Auburn, N. Y., came to New York City in 1846 and was admitted to
the firm of Mark H. Newman & Company. In 1852, a new partnership for
three years was founded under the firm name of Newman & Ivison, but
the senior partner died before the end of the first year, leaving the
business entirely in Mr. Ivison’s hands. Mr. Ivison later bought out
the entire interest of the concern and took in as a partner H. F.
Phinney of Cooperstown, N. Y., an experienced bookseller and son-in-law
of J. Fenimore Cooper. In 1866, Mr. Phinney’s health failed and Messrs.
Birdseye Blakeman, Augustus C. Taylor, and Mr. Ivison’s eldest son,
David B., were admitted to the firm, which was continued under the name
of Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman & Co. Subsequently, on the withdrawal of
Mr. Phinney, the firm name was changed to Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor &
Co. Mr. Ivison retired from the firm in 1881. In 1890, the business of
this concern was purchased by the American Book Company.

In Ivison & Company’s Almanac for the year 1847 are found advertisements
of Porter’s _Rhetorical Reader_, Newman’s _Rhetoric_ and _Elements of
Political Economy_, Day and Thomson’s Series of _Practical Arithmetic_,
Sanders’ School Readers, Wilson’s Histories of the United States,
Bradbury & Sanders’ _Young Choir_ or _School Singing Book_, Gray’s
_Elements of Chemistry_, and Hitchcock’s _Elementary Geology_.


CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS.--The business was founded in 1846 by Isaac D.
Baker and Charles Scribner, under the firm name of Baker & Scribner.
Later the organization became a partnership under the different names
of Charles Scribner & Company, and Scribner & Armstrong. Mr. Charles
Scribner died in 1871, and was succeeded by his eldest son, John Blair
Scribner. Mr. Armstrong retired in 1878 and the business was then
reorganized as a partnership under the firm name of Charles Scribner’s
Sons, with John Blair Scribner as the head, the other partners being
Charles Scribner and Arthur H. Scribner, sons of the founder. When
John Blair Scribner died in 1879, Charles Scribner became the head of
the business. In 1904, the corporation of Charles Scribner’s Sons was
formed with Charles Scribner, President, and Arthur H. Scribner, Vice
President, and that organization remains the same in 1921.

Among the earliest educational publications of the house are a treatise
in physical geography entitled _The Earth and Man_, by A. Guyot,
translated by C. C. Felton and published in 1849; Felter’s Arithmetics,
1864; Guyot’s Wall Maps, 1865; Perry’s _Elements of Political Economy_,
1865; Guyot’s Geographies, 1866; Porter’s _Human Intellect_, 1868;
Cooley’s _Chemistry_, 1869; Cooley’s _Natural Philosophy_, 1871;
Cooley’s _Physics Experiments_, 1871; Hopkins’ _Outline Study of Man_,
1873.


J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.--This firm originally was Lippincott, Grambo
& Company, founded in 1850, and later became J. B. Lippincott Company.
The present Lippincott who is the head of the concern is the son of the
original founder, J. B. Lippincott.

Some of the old-time schoolbooks published by J. B. Lippincott
Company were Comly’s _Speller_, Sanford’s _Arithmetic_, Cutter’s
_Anatomy_, Wilson’s _Readers_, and Webster’s _Speller_. In 1876, the
firm purchased from Brewer & Tileston of Boston the entire rights
in Worcester’s Dictionary. The House has published in this country
Gibbon’s _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, Hume’s and Macaulay’s
Histories of England. It also projected _Lippincott’s Magazine_ in
1867, issuing the first number in January, 1868. Its first editor was
Lloyd Smith, the librarian of the Philadelphia library.


LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD COMPANY.--In 1850, Daniel Lothrop and his
brothers, John and Henry, formed a partnership known as D. Lothrop
& Company for the publishing of books in Dover, N. H. Their early
publications were mostly juvenile, and largely for use in Sunday School
libraries. A little more than ten years later, the business was removed
to Boston, and later incorporated as D. Lothrop Company. After the
death of Daniel Lothrop, the business was reorganized in 1891 as the
Lothrop Publishing Company, and so continued until 1904, when all its
assets were purchased by Lee & Shepard.

The Lothrop house published a great many books of educational value,
like Gilman’s _Historical Readers_, in three volumes, and Miss Cyr’s
_Interstate Primer and First Reader_. Their most important educational
book was _Finger Plays_, by Emilie Poulsson, of which 110,000 copies
have been sold.

The firm of Lee & Shepard was founded in Boston in 1861 by William
Lee, who had previously been a partner of Phillips Sampson & Company,
a Boston publishing house which went out of existence in the 50’s, and
Charles A. B. Shepard. Mr. Shepard died in 1889, and Mr. Lee continued
as sole partner until June, 1898, when he transferred his entire
business to E. Fleming & Company, book binders, who continued the
business by placing it in charge of Warren F. Gregory.

Lee & Shepard were general publishers and, like D. Lothrop & Company,
had strong lines of juveniles which were much used in school libraries.
Of their distinctively educational books, the most successful were
King’s _Picturesque Geographical Readers_, in six volumes.

In 1904, the owners of Lee & Shepard purchased the entire assets of
the Lothrop Publishing Company, and incorporated the combined houses
under the style Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company. Mr. Gregory, the
Manager of Lee & Shepard, was elected General Manager and has held that
position since. Among its most important works used educationally, in
addition to those mentioned above, are the _True Story Series_, the _U.
S. Service Series_, the translation of Froebel’s _Mother Play, with
Music_, and books for younger readers.


SHELDON & COMPANY.--Mr. Smith Sheldon of Albany, N. Y., organized
a firm which began business in New York City in 1853 at 115 Nassau
Street. He was soon joined by Mr. Birdseye Blakeman, who afterward
became a member of the firm of Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Company. In
1857 Isaac E. Sheldon, eldest son of Smith Sheldon, became a partner,
and subsequently Isaac Shailor entered the firm. Mr. Shailor was killed
a few years later in his barn by a stroke of lightning. This must have
been in the early 70’s, and about that time Mr. Sheldon’s younger sons,
Alexander E. Sheldon and William D. Sheldon, were made members of the
firm.

Some time in the 60’s Mason and Hamlin, the organ people, sold to
the Sheldons their schoolbooks, such as the Stoddard Mathematics,
Haven’s and Wayland’s Philosophies, and other standard books. Sheldon
& Company had branched out into almost all classes of publication,
including novels, autobiographies, religious books, hymn books,
schoolbooks, etc., and in addition published what was known as the
_Galaxy Magazine_. In 1877, the house decided to make a specialty
of schoolbooks, and gave up its other lines of publication. Among
the school and college textbooks which they brought out were Olney’s
Mathematics, Avery’s Science Series, Hill’s Rhetorics, Logic and
Psychology, Shaw’s Literature, Sheldon’s Word Studies, Sheldon’s Modern
School Readers, and Patterson’s Grammars.

In 1891, the firm was incorporated under the name of Sheldon & Company,
with Isaac E. Sheldon as President and Joseph K. Butler as Secretary
and Treasurer. The following year they purchased the business of
Taintor Brothers. Later the house of E. H. Butler & Company was merged
with Sheldon & Company, there being included in E. H. Butler & Company
the firm of Cowperthwait & Company of Philadelphia, and a Pittsburgh
firm, the name of which I think was H. I. Gurley & Company. Isaac E.
Sheldon died about the first of July, 1898, and E. H. Butler was made
President, the firm becoming Butler, Sheldon & Company. On January 1,
1903, the business of Butler, Sheldon & Company was purchased by the
American Book Company and its books added to the list of that concern.


RAND McNALLY & COMPANY.--In 1859 Mr. William H. Rand was operating a
job printing business at 148 Lake Street, Chicago. About that time
his plant was consolidated with the job department of the Chicago
_Tribune_. In 1862, Mr. Andrew McNally, who had been in partnership
with Mr. John Collins in the printing and stationery business on North
Clark Street, sold his interest and purchased a partnership in the
_Tribune_ job office. He became superintendent of the business. In
1864, Rand and McNally bought out the _Tribune_ interest in the job
printing, and founded the copartnership of Rand McNally & Company. The
Company was incorporated in 1873. The present President of the concern
is Mr. H. B. Clow.

Rand McNally & Company has been known as map makers, book publishers,
atlas makers, bank publishers, ticket manufacturers, creators of map
systems, and other specialties. It has published the Dodge Geographies,
the Mace Histories, and a number of other large selling educational
books.


HENRY HOLT & COMPANY.--In 1866, the copartnership of Frederick Leypoldt
and Henry Holt was formed under the style of Leypoldt & Holt. From
the start they were merely publisher and not retailers or printers.
In 1871, H. O. Williams was admitted to the firm; Mr. Leypoldt soon
withdrew, and the firm name was changed to Holt & Williams. Two years
later Mr. Williams retired and the business was continued as Henry Holt
& Company. Charles Holt, a brother of Henry Holt, was an active partner
from 1878 to 1903, when the house became a stock company with Henry
Holt as President, Roland Holt, Vice President, Edward N. Bristol,
Secretary, Joseph F. Vogelius, Treasurer. In 1919, Mr. Vogelius
resigned after more than fifty years’ connection with the house.

The firm’s first educational venture occurred in 1867, when the foreign
language publications of S. R. Urbino and DeVries, Ibarra & Company of
Boston were taken over. These two lists included the Otto French and
German Grammars and some sixty French and German texts. Most of these
same texts still appear in Henry Holt & Company’s list, though not in
the form first issued. In 1869, the firm began what was practically
its first original enterprise in the educational field when it issued
Whitney’s German textbooks, starting with his _German Reader_, and
following shortly with his _Compendious German Grammar_. In 1879,
the _American Science Series_ was begun with Packard’s _Zoology_.
The announcements included James’ _Psychology_, Walker’s _Political
Economy_, and Martin’s _The Human Body_. In the same year the first of
Johnston’s books, _American Politics_, appeared. These books represent
the earlier development of Henry Holt & Company’s educational business.


GINN & COMPANY.--This house was founded in 1867 by Edwin Ginn. He
began business at No. 3 Beacon Street, Boston, and soon admitted as
a partner Mr. Aaron Lovell, afterward the head of the house known
as A. Lovell & Company of New York. Mr. Ginn’s next partner was Mr.
R. F. Leighton, the author of Leighton’s _Latin Lessons_, then Mr.
Frederick Ginn, Edwin Ginn’s brother. Later Mr. Daniel C. Heath and Mr.
George A. Plimpton were admitted to the firm, Mr. Heath in 1876 and
Mr. Plimpton in 1880. The firm was then known as Ginn & Heath. In 1885
the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Heath retiring. The business was
continued by Edwin Ginn, George A. Plimpton, and Frederick Ginn under
the firm name of Ginn & Company. Since then there have been admitted
at different times as members of the firm, Thomas Ballard, Justin H.
Smith, Lewis Parkhurst, O. P. Conant, Ralph L. Hayes, Selim S. White,
Thomas W. Gilson, Fred. M. Ambrose, Austin H. Kenerson, Henry R.
Hilton, Richard S. Thomas, C. H. Thurber, T. B. Lawler, Dana W. Hall,
Selden C. Smith, O. J. Laylander, F. C. Hodgdon, E. A. DeWitt, L. B.
Robeson, Mark R. Jouett, Jr., J. W. Swartz, LeRoy J. Weed, Edward H.
Kenerson, Norman C. Miller, and H. B. Conway. Of this number there are
now eighteen surviving partners.

Mr. Edwin Ginn died in 1914. Of the other partners who have been
admitted, Mr. Conant, Mr. Gilson, Mr. White, and Mr. Kenerson, Sr.,
have crossed the Great Divide. Mr. Justin H. Smith retired from the
firm to enter the faculty of Dartmouth College. Mr. Ballard, Mr. Hayes
and Mr. Ambrose also retired.

The first educational book that Mr. Ginn published was Craik’s _The
English of Shakespeare_. This was followed by Goodwin’s _Greek
Grammar_, the Allen & Greenough Latin Series, White’s _Greek Lessons_,
and a course of _Grade School Music Readers_ by Luther Whiting Mason.
This series was early introduced into the Boston schools and for some
time was the standard series of school music in America.

The Boston offices of Ginn & Company have been at Tremont Place, Beacon
Street, in the old John Hancock house, and are now at 15 Ashburton
Place.

The prototype of the Athenæum Press was started by Ginn & Company in
the early 80’s. The building which now houses this establishment is
located in Cambridge, and was erected in 1896.


ALLYN & BACON.--Mr. John Allyn began business in 1868. He imported
and published a line of books, chiefly Greek, but in 1886 he issued
Pennell’s Histories of Greece and Rome, Comstock’s _First Latin Book_,
and Kelsey’s _Caesar_. In 1888 Dr. George A. Bacon joined Mr. Allyn in
equal partnership. Dr. Bacon had been, before he entered business, the
principal of the Syracuse High School. Shortly after the partnership
was formed, the house purchased Walker’s _Physiology_ from A. Lovell
& Company, but the book had already been in existence for some time.
Both Mr. Allyn and Dr. Bacon are still living and carrying on their
business.


THE CENTURY COMPANY.--This company was organized July 21, 1870, by
Roswell Smith and Josiah G. Holland. It is a corporation. Mr. Smith
was the first president; he was succeeded by Frank Scott, he by W. W.
Ellsworth, and he by Dr. W. Morgan Shuster, who is at the present time
in office.

Strictly educational publications were first brought out in 1904,
Fetter’s _Principles of Economics_ being the first volume to appear.
Failor’s _Plane and Solid Geometry_, Forman’s _Advanced Civics_,
Smith’s _Introduction to Inorganic Chemistry_, and Thorndike’s
_Elements of Composition and Rhetoric_ were published shortly afterward.


FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY.--The founder of Funk & Wagnalls Company was
Dr. Isaac Kauffman Funk, who established the business in 1876 with _The
Metropolitan Pulpit_, now _The Homiletic Review_. Some months later he
was joined by Adam W. Wagnalls, and the two entered into partnership,
forming the business of I. K. Funk & Company. These two men were joined
in 1879 by Mr. Robert J. Cuddihy.

In 1891, Funk & Wagnalls Company was organized with Dr. Funk as
President, Adam W. Wagnalls, Vice President, Robert J. Cuddihy,
Treasurer and General Manager. William Neisel joined the staff of the
publishing house in 1883, and was appointed head of the Manufacturing
Department. In 1884, Dr. Funk founded _The Voice_ and in 1890, _The
Literary Digest_. Edward J. Wheeler joined the staff as editor of _The
Voice_ in 1884, and in 1895 became editor of _The Literary Digest_,
which position he held until 1905, when William Seaver Woods became
editor.

The idea and plans of the Dictionary originated with Dr. Funk, whose
first managing editor was Dr. Daniel Seeley Gregory. The _Standard
Dictionary_ was projected in 1890 and completed in 1893. Dr. Funk was
editor-in-chief of all the publications of Funk & Wagnalls Company, and
in his work on the _Standard Dictionary_ was assisted by Dr. Rossiter
Johnson, John Denison Champlin, Dr. Francis A. March, Sr., and Dr.
Arthur E. Bostwick. The _New Standard Dictionary_ was projected in
1909, and was issued under the editor-in-chiefship of Dr. Funk, with
Calvin Thomas as consulting editor, and Frank H. Vizetelly as managing
editor, 1903-1913, editor of the same since 1914. The abridgments of
the _Standard Dictionary_ were produced under the general editorship of
Dr. Funk, by Dr. James Champlin Fernald, Frank H. Vizetelly, and others.

The office of Secretary has been held, sometimes in addition to other
offices, by the following persons: Robert J. Cuddihy, 1891-1898; Henry
L. Raymond, 1898-1904; Robert Scott, 1904-1913; Wilfred J. Funk,
1913-1915; and William Neisel, 1915 to the present time.

Following the death of Dr. Isaac K. Funk in 1912, Dr. Adam W. Wagnalls
was elected President of the Company; Benjamin Franklin Funk, Vice
President. On the death of Benjamin Franklin Funk in 1914, Wilfred J.
Funk became Vice President and William Neisel, Secretary.

The editorial policy of Funk & Wagnalls Company is directed by the
Executive Committee, under the guidance of the General Manager, Robert
J. Cuddihy. The Manager of the Educational Department is Mr. Wilfred J.
Funk.

Inclusive of the Dictionary and its abridgments, the first educational
books published by the Company were Fernald’s _English Synonyms,
Antonyms, and Prepositions_ and his _Connectives of English Speech_.

Of the firm’s publications circulated most widely in the schools, _The
Literary Digest_ takes first rank. It maintains an educational service
among 15,000 teachers and circulates in more than 10,000 schools.

In 1904, Francis Whiting Halsey became literary adviser of the Company
and editor of the book department of _The Literary Digest_. Under
his supervision were produced: _Great Epochs in American History_,
_Seeing Europe with Famous Authors_, and with the assistance of William
Jennings Bryan, _World’s Famous Orations_, and in conjunction with
Henry Cabot Lodge, _Best of the World’s Classics_. Mr. Halsey died,
November 24, 1919.

The officers and the principal editors of the Company are: President,
Dr. Adam W. Wagnalls; Vice President, Wilfred J. Funk; Treasurer
and General Manager, Robert J. Cuddihy; Secretary, William Neisel;
_Homiletic Review_, Editors: George Gilmore, Robert Scott; _Literary
Digest_, Editor: William Seaver Woods; _Standard Dictionary_, Managing
Editor, Frank H. Vizetelly.


LYONS & CARNAHAN.--This firm was organized and began publishing
schoolbooks about 1878. In 1888, Mr. J. A. Lyons became associated
with Mr. O. M. Powers in the publication of commercial texts. The firm
name was Powers & Lyons. They continued to publish commercial books
until 1909, when J. A. Lyons purchased the interest of O. M. Powers
and continued to do business under the firm name of J. A. Lyons & Co.
In 1912, J. W. Carnahan purchased an interest in the business, and the
firm name was changed to Lyons & Carnahan. Mr. Lyons died in November,
1920, and Mr. Carnahan was elected President of the new corporation
which was organized under the same name of Lyons & Carnahan.

Since 1912 the house has been engaged in the publication of both common
and high school books.


HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY.--This firm was established about 1880 by Mr.
H. O. Houghton and Mr. George H. Mifflin, with whom were associated Mr.
M. M. Hurd and Mr. L. H. Valentine. They took over, either at that time
or a little later, the business of various Boston publishers, namely,
Ticknor & Fields, Hurd & Houghton, Houghton, Osgood & Company; Fields,
Osgood and Company, James R. Osgood & Company, and Ticknor & Company.
Some of these firms were first merged together and then with Houghton
Mifflin Company, but practically all this took place before 1882.
Ticknor & Company, however, became united with the business a little
later.

The Educational Department of Houghton Mifflin Company was established
in 1882 through the efforts of Horace E. Scudder and Henry N. Wheeler,
encouraged by Mr. Henry O. Houghton, Sr. There were then published
Colburn’s _Arithmetic_ and certain Latin books, but Mr. Scudder had
the idea that the great masterpieces of American literature, such as
_Evangeline_, _The Vision of Sir Launfal_, _Snow-Bound_ and other
similar great classics which had recently come into the control of
the firm, should be made available in cheap editions for school use.
He became the general editor of the Riverside Literature Series which
was then established, and which was pushed with vigor and energy by
Henry N. Wheeler. Early in the 90’s the Department developed with
the publication of Fiske’s _History of the United States_, Fiske’s
_Civil Government_, and various collections of literature such as
_Masterpieces of American Literature_. This necessitated further
expansion and an office was opened in Chicago under the management of
C. F. Newkirk, who was later succeeded by W. E. Bloomfield.

In 1902 J. D. Phillips, who had previously been connected with the
Editorial Department of the house, was transferred to the Educational
Department to do both agency and editorial work, and the Webster-Cooley
Language Series was soon published.

Mr. Scudder died in 1902 and Mr. Wheeler in 1905, and the Department
came under the management of Mr. Phillips and Mr. Davol. Franklin S.
Hoyt, formerly Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Indianapolis, was
invited in 1906 to join the firm and take charge of the editorial end
of the work. The organization then established has remained practically
unchanged until now. Henry B. Dewey, former Commissioner of Education
of the State of Washington, is now manager of the Boston office of this
Company.


B. F. JOHNSON PUBLISHING COMPANY.--This concern is the successor of
B. F. Johnson & Company, which was organized some time in the 80’s
to develop a subscription book business founded by Benjamin Franklin
Johnson in 1876. The business grew to enormous proportions and at one
time the books published by this concern were to be found in almost
every house in the South.

In 1895, the Company began to experiment in a small way with
schoolbooks, beginning with Lee’s _Advanced History_. Two years
later it published Johnson’s _Primer_, and this was soon followed
by Johnson’s _Readers_. The success of these experiments led to a
reorganization of the Company by Mr. Johnson in 1900, when the
subscription book business was dropped and the house began to devote
itself exclusively to schoolbooks. The first publications of the
reorganized company were _Graded Classics Readers_ and Colaw and
Ellwood’s Arithmetics in 1900, both of which series were remarkably
successful.

In 1902, Mr. Johnson was succeeded in the presidency by James D. Crump,
who held the position until 1920, when he was succeeded by A. J. Gray,
Jr. The Company has recently been reorganized by Mr. Gray to meet
the demands of its extraordinary growth and to provide for further
development on an enlarged scale.


SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY.--This business was founded by Mr. Edgar O.
Silver, April 21, 1885. On September 21, 1886, the firm of Silver,
Rogers & Company was organized, M. Thacher Rogers being admitted to
partnership. This partnership was succeeded by the partnership of
Silver, Burdett & Company, April 16, 1888, consisting of Edgar O.
Silver, Elmer E. Silver, Henry C. Deane, and Frank W. Burdett, and
on May 2, 1892, the business of the partnership was assumed by the
corporation of the same name. Mr. Edgar O. Silver died in November,
1909. In 1910, Arthur Lord was elected Acting President, and in 1914
Haviland Stevenson was made President of the Company.

The date of the first publications of this house was 1885. Among its
earliest books were the _Normal Music Course_ and other music books
for schools, Farley and Gunnison’s Writing Books, Todd and Powell’s
Readers, Stowell’s Physiologies, and Larkin Dunton’s Geographical
Readers. For two or three years after its organization in 1885, the
house devoted itself almost entirely to the publication of music books
for the common and high schools. In 1890, the policy of the house was
changed and the list broadened to cover the other subjects in the
school curriculum.

Silver, Burdett & Company purchased the business of Potter & Putnam
about 1903, and in 1904 that of the Morse Company, adding the lists of
these houses to their own.


D. C. HEATH & COMPANY.--This house was founded in 1886 by Daniel C.
Heath, whose first office was in Tremont Place, Boston. The name chosen
by Mr. Heath for his firm was D. C. Heath & Company, which name has
continued until this day. Mr. Heath’s first partner was Charles H.
Ames, who was admitted to the firm in 1888. His second was William E.
Pulsifer, who joined the Company in 1889. Dr. Winfield S. Smyth, who
had been Ginn & Company’s Chicago manager, was taken into the firm
of D. C. Heath & Company in 1893. In 1895, the partnership sold its
business to a corporation organized in that month, of which Mr. D.
C. Heath was made President, Dr. Winfield S. Smyth, Vice President,
William E. Pulsifer, Treasurer, and Charles H. Ames, Secretary. Mr.
Heath died in January, 1908, and Dr. Smyth in August, 1908.

After Mr. Heath’s death his trustees, Herbert C. Foss and E. G. Cooley,
who for some time had been Superintendent of Schools in Chicago,
carried on the business for two years, when Mr. Heath’s stock was
purchased by William E. Pulsifer, Winfield S. Smyth, Jr., W. H. Ives,
James C. Simpson, Isaac Van Houten, Frank F. Hummel, and others who
bought a few shares of the common stock. In 1910 the corporation
elected as its officers, William E. Pulsifer, President, W. H. Ives,
Vice President, Winfield S. Smyth, Treasurer, and Charles H. Ames,
Secretary. Mr. Ives soon retired and in September, 1911, Mr. Ames
died. The present officers of the Company are William E. Pulsifer,
President, James C. Simpson, Vice President, Winfield S. Smyth,
Treasurer, and Frank F. Hummel, Secretary. Mr. S. Willard Clary was
the editor-in-chief of the Modern Language Department for twenty-seven
years, and Dr. Charles Henry Douglas has been the editor-in-chief of
the general list since 1895.

When Mr. Heath retired from the firm of Ginn & Heath, he was paid for
his interest partly in cash and partly in books. Among the publications
which he received from the Ginn & Heath list were Remsen’s _Organic
Chemistry_, Shaler’s _First Book in Geology_, Ybarra’s _Practical
Method in Spanish_, Sheldon’s _Short German Grammar_, Hall’s _Methods
of Teaching History_, and Mitchell’s _Hebrew Lessons_. There were
altogether twenty-four bound books and several manuscripts, including
those prepared by Mary Sheldon. Mr. Heath’s first publications were
Sheldon’s _Studies in General History_, the Joynes-Meissner _German
Grammar_, and several French and German texts purchased from English
and Scotch publishers and republished by him.

D. C. Heath & Company has acquired by purchase from Leach & Shewell and
added to its list the Wells Series of Mathematics for secondary schools
and colleges, a number of Latin texts and textbooks from the University
Publishing Company, Thomas’s _History of the United States_ from a
Friends’ Society known as The Text-Book Association of Philadelphia,
Bancroft’s _School Gymnastics_ from Kellogg & Company of New York,
Bowser’s Algebras, Geometries, and Trigonometries from Van Nostrand
& Company, and the American rights in what is now known as the Arden
Shakespeare from Blackie & Son, Limited, of Scotland.


LONGMANS, GREEN & COMPANY.--The American house of Longmans, Green
& Company was founded September 15, 1887, by Mr. C. J. Mills. Its
business is incorporated under New York State law. The London house
began business in 1724. The only change that has been made in the
personnel of the Company on this side of the Atlantic was the
admittance to the firm of Mr. Mill’s son, E. S. Mills.

The publication of schoolbooks by the American house was begun in 1890.
The first of these books were _Epochs of American History_, a series
of three volumes edited by Professor A. B. Hart of Harvard. Woodrow
Wilson is the author of one of the volumes. This well-known series was
quickly followed by Longmans’ _English Classics_, Longmans’ _English
Grammar_, etc.


SCOTT, FORESMAN & COMPANY.--This house was founded in 1889 under the
firm name of Albert & Scott. The business was originated and carried
on for several years by Mr. E. H. Scott. In 1894, Mr. H. A. Foresman
purchased an interest in the concern and shortly afterward the
publishing business of George Sherwood & Company, with all its stock
and publishing rights, was taken over. At that time the corporation
name was changed to Scott, Foresman & Company. In 1896, W. C. Foresman
bought an interest in the business and became Treasurer of the Company.
The same year the publishing business of S. C. Griggs & Company was
purchased, and all rights and stock were transferred to Scott, Foresman
& Company. In 1908, R. C. McNamara became a stockholder and Secretary
of the Company. In 1912, Charles E. Keck became a stockholder and
manager of the Eastern office.

Scott, Foresman & Company began publishing educational books in 1889,
the first being a beginner’s Latin book, _Bellum Helveticum_, and the
second, Lowe and Ewing’s _Caesar_.


AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY.--On June 14, 1890, an announcement was made by
the American Book Company as follows:

“American Book Company, Incorporated, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago.
Birdseye Blakeman, President; Alfred C. Barnes, Vice President; Harry
T. Ambrose, Treasurer; Gilman H. Tucker, Secretary. Directors: Caleb
S. Bragg, Chairman; William H. Appleton, William W. Appleton, Daniel
Appleton, Alfred C. Barnes, Charles J. Barnes, Henry B. Barnes,
Birdseye Blakeman, George R. Cathcart, A. H. Hinkle, David B. Ivison,
Henry H. Vail.

“The American Book Company is a stock company incorporated under state
laws for the purpose of carrying on the manufacture and sale of books.
The American Book Company has purchased the schoolbook publications
hitherto issued by D. Appleton & Company, A. S. Barnes & Company,
Harper & Brothers, Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Company of New York, and
Van Antwerp, Bragg & Company of Cincinnati. The company is organized in
the interest of economy in the production and sale of schoolbooks, etc.”

Mr. Birdseye Blakeman served as President from April, 1890, until May,
1893. He was succeeded by David B. Ivison, who served as President
until 1896. Harry T. Ambrose was President of the Company from 1896
until 1914, when L. M. Dillman was elected to that office. Mr. Blakeman
died October 9, 1894, and Mr. Ivison, April 6, 1903.

General A. C. Barnes served as Vice President from 1890 until his
death in 1904, when he was succeeded by Dr. Henry H. Vail. He in turn
was succeeded by the present Vice President, A. Victor Barnes.

Mr. Ambrose served as Treasurer of the Company until he was elected
President in 1896, when Charles P. Batt, the present Treasurer,
succeeded him. Gilman H. Tucker was Secretary of the Company at its
organization in 1890, and remained as such until his death, November
14, 1913. He was succeeded by John Arthur Greene, who died in 1917. The
present Secretary is W. L. Billmyer.

Dr. Henry H. Vail was Chief of the Editorial Department at the
organization of the Company, and held that position until his
resignation in 1909, when he was succeeded by Russell Hinman. Mr.
Hinman died in 1912, when Mr. G. W. Benton was made Editor-in-Chief and
is still serving in that position.

Since its organization, the American Book Company has taken over by
purchase the schoolbook properties of the following houses: Werner
School Book Company, Chicago; Standard School Book Company, St. Louis;
D. D. Merrill, St. Paul; Cowperthwait & Company, Philadelphia; Taintor
Brothers & Company, New York; E. H. Butler & Company, Philadelphia;
Western School Book Company, Chicago; Sheldon & Company, New York;
Williams & Rogers, Rochester; the elementary list of the University
Publishing Company, New York.


SCHWARTZ, KIRWIN & FAUSS.--This house was established in 1890, the
founders being Alonzo Schwartz, James J. Kirwin, and Denis C. Fauss. In
1893, Mr. Schwartz retired on account of ill health, and the business
continued under the direction of Mr. Kirwin and Mr. Fauss.

In 1898, this firm purchased the business of the Catholic School Book
Company, taking over its entire list. That company, in turn, was the
successor of the Catholic Publication Society, established originally
by the Paulist Fathers in 59th Street, New York, with Mr. Lawrence
Kehoe as the manager.

Among the earliest publications of the house were _The Young Catholic’s
Illustrated Readers_, Deharbe’s Catechism, Gazeau’s Histories, Edward’s
_Hygiene_, Hassard’s Histories, Farrell’s Spellers, and the _Columbus
Series of Readers_, by Dr. William T. Vlymen, which series had already
been contracted for and the first book published by the Catholic School
Book Company, when Schwartz, Kirwin & Fauss purchased their list and
completed the series.

The offices of this firm are located at 42 Barclay Street, New York,
with Mr. Kirwin and Mr. Fauss still in charge of the business.


THE GREGG PUBLISHING COMPANY.--This organization is an outgrowth of
_Gregg Shorthand_, first published by John R. Gregg in Boston, October,
1893. In 1896 Mr. Gregg moved to Chicago, where he established a
school and continued to publish his system. In 1907, the publishing
business was incorporated as the Gregg Publishing Company, and is owned
by Mr. Gregg, with the exception of the few shares held by others
to comply with the legal requirements. In 1907 Mr. Gregg moved to
New York, where he established an Eastern office. The San Francisco
office was opened in 1912, the Boston office in 1919, and in 1920 an
office was established in London. At the present time the executive
officers are: John R. Gregg, President; Mrs. J. R. Gregg, First Vice
President; Rupert P. SoRelle, Second Vice President; W. F. Nenneman,
Secretary-Treasurer; Hubert A. Hagar, General Manager.

Beginning with shorthand, an extensive line of publications in
that subject was developed, to which were added textbooks in other
commercial subjects. In addition to its two magazines, the list of
publications of the Gregg Publishing Company at the present time
comprises more than one hundred titles.


OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.--In January, 1896, an American branch of the
Oxford University Press opened offices at 91-93 Fifth Avenue, New York,
under the management of John Armstrong, with whom were associated W.
W. McIntosh, W. F. Olver, and C. C. Schepmoes. In 1897, the Branch
took over from The Macmillan Company the publications of The Clarendon
Press. In 1915, Mr. Armstrong died. He was succeeded by W. W. McIntosh,
the present Vice President and General Manager. Mr. W. F. Olver, the
first Treasurer of the Company, died in 1919 and was succeeded by Isaac
Brown. Mr. C. C. Schepmoes became Secretary at that time.

The first schoolbook manufactured and published by the Oxford
University Press in this country was Schiller’s _Wilhelm Tell_, edited
by Sphoenfeld, which was issued in 1902. The concern publishes the
Oxford English, French, and German Series. In 1918, the Branch added a
Medical Department, which handles all the medical publications of Henry
Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton of London.


THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.--Mr. George P. Brett, the present President,
with the proprietors of Macmillan & Company, Ltd., London, the people
who had been interested in the agency of Macmillan & Company previously
operating in the United States, undertook the organization of the
corporation, The Macmillan Company, in this country in 1896. Mr. Brett
has been the President of the American corporation since that date.

There have been several heads of the Educational Department. It was
organized first under the direction of Dr. F. L. Sevenoak, who gave a
part of his time to this work, the balance being devoted to teaching.
He was succeeded by James R. McDonald, who filled the position until
the fall of 1902, when he was succeeded by William H. Ives. In 1906
Mr. Ives was succeeded by F. C. Tenney, who filled the position
until July, 1912. At that time A. H. Nelson became the head of the
Educational Department and held the position until July, 1920, when
Charles H. Seaver, who now occupies it, succeeded Mr. Nelson.

School textbooks were published in America by Macmillan & Company
before the time when The Macmillan Company was formed as an American
corporation, the records showing the publication of Hall and Knight’s
_Elementary Algebra_ and _Algebra for Beginners_ in 1895, Tarr’s
_Elements of Physical Geography_ in 1895, and Channing’s _Student’s
History of the United States_ in April, 1896. Immediately following the
establishment of the American corporation, there was published Miller’s
_Trigonometry_ in 1896, and in 1897 the following books appeared:
Tarr’s _High School Geology_, Nichols’ _High School Physics_, Lewis’s
_Writing English_, Tarr’s _First Book in Physical Geography_, McLellan
and Ames’ _Arithmetic_, Hall and Knight’s _Algebra for Colleges and
Schools_, Davenport’s _Elementary Economics_, Murche’s _Science
Readers_. The McLellan and Ames _Arithmetic_ and the Murche _Science
Readers_ were the first textbooks published for elementary grades. The
Macmillan Company first undertook the work of publishing books for that
field in the fall of 1897.


W. H. WHEELER & COMPANY.--This Chicago concern was organized in 1897
by Mr. W. H. Wheeler. In 1898 W. C. Fidler purchased an interest in
the Company. Some years later, E. E. Wheeler, son of W. H. Wheeler,
was admitted to the firm, as was also John H. Pugh. These four men are
still active in the business.

The first books published by this house were Wheeler’s _Graded Studies
in English, First Lessons in Grammar and Composition_. These were
followed a little later by Wheeler’s _Graded Primer_.


NEWSON & COMPANY.--This concern was incorporated under the laws of
the State of New York, July, 1900. Mr. Henry D. Newson was its first
President. He was succeeded in that office by Mr. Everett Yeaw, the
present President, in April, 1912. Mr. Newson severed all relations
with the Company on January 1, 1920.

Newson & Company immediately on its organization began the publication
of educational books, the first of which was Buehler’s _Modern English
Grammar_, the original of the present Revised Edition, published in
1914.


WORLD BOOK COMPANY.--The house was established in 1905 by Casper
W. Hodgson. “It was really founded,” Mr. Hodgson writes, “in the
Philippine Islands, a little farther west or east than any other
American house has started.” The first office was in Manila, but soon
another was established at Park Hill, Yonkers, N. Y.

The first books issued were six Philippine publications. The World Book
Company now does a considerable business not only in the Philipine
Islands, but also in the United States and Latin America. O. S. Reimold
and M. A. Purcell have been connected with the business almost from its
beginning. M. J. Hazelton, who joined the Company in 1908, has been the
Philippine representative of the house. Professor John W. Ritchie has
given his full time to the organization since 1915.

The titles of the first educational books published for use in American
schools are Ritchie’s _Human Physiology_, and Wohlfarth-Rogers’ _New
World Spellers_.


ROW, PETERSON & COMPANY.--This firm was organized in February, 1906.
R. K. Row was made President and Isaac Peterson, Secretary-Treasurer.
A few years later Charles D. Kennedy and J. R. Sparks purchased stock
in the Company and were made directors, Mr. Kennedy becoming Secretary.
In 1914, B. E. Richardson purchased stock and became Vice President. In
1919, Mr. Peterson died and Mr. Kennedy was made Secretary-Treasurer.

The first books were published in the spring of 1906. These included
Robbins and Row’s _Studies in English_, Salisbury’s _The Theory of
Teaching_, Frazier’s _The National Speller_, Hatch and Haselwood’s
_Elementary Agriculture_, and Hurty’s _Life with Health_.


McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY.--This organization was started on July
1, 1909, with John A. Hill, President, and James H. McGraw, Vice
President. After Mr. Hill’s death in 1916, Mr. McGraw succeeded him as
President, which position he still holds.

At the time of the formation of this Company in 1909, when the Book
Departments of the McGraw Publishing Company and the Hill Publishing
Company were consolidated, the combined lists totaled perhaps 200
books. In ten years this list has grown to approximately 1000 titles.
Some of the most notable publications of the Educational Department
of the McGraw-Hill Book Company are Dr. Cady’s _Inorganic Chemistry_,
Dr. Norris’ _Principles of Organic Chemistry_, Dr. Moore’s _History
of Chemistry_, Dr. Mahin’s _Quantitative Analysis_, a series of
Electrical Engineering texts prepared under the general supervision
of Dr. H. E. Clifford of Harvard University, a series of books on
Scientific Management and Efficiency, under the general direction of
Dr. R. S. Butler, formerly of the University of Wisconsin, a series
of mathematical texts, including Slichter’s _Elementary Mathematical
Analysis_, Wolff’s _Calculus_, Allen’s _Projective Geometry_, and a
series of successful books for trade schools and apprentice classes,
under the general direction of F. E. Mathewson of the Dickinson High
School, Jersey City, N. J.

The present officers of the McGraw-Hill Book Company are: James H.
McGraw, President; Martin M. Foss, Vice President and General Manager;
Arthur J. Baldwin, Vice President; Edward Caldwell, Treasurer; James S.
Thompson, Secretary.


THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY.--This house was established in 1838 by
Samuel Merrill. The business has continued in unbroken succession since
that time, under several different firm names, being first Merrill &
Company, then Merrill & Field, Merrill Hubbard Company, Merrill Meigs
& Company, The Bowen-Merrill Company, and in 1903 the firm name became
The Bobbs-Merrill Company.

In 1909 a set of educational readers was added to the general line
of publications of this house. As publishers of law books, The
Bobbs-Merrill Company ranks among the leading houses of the country.

The present officers of the corporation are: W. C. Bobbs, President;
John R. Carr, Vice President; D. L. Chambers, Secretary.


THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY.--The founder of this Philadelphia concern
was Mr. John C. Winston, who was its directing head until May 6, 1920,
when he died.

The Company began work in the preparation of schoolbooks in 1913, but
the business end of the Educational Department was not inaugurated
until March, 1918. The first books published by this Company were the
Winston Series of Readers, the _Young American Readers_, the _Winston
Simplified Dictionary_, and two books on civics, _Our Community_ and
_Our Neighborhood_.


IROQUOIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.--This Company was incorporated
under the laws of the state of New York on July 15, 1915, with E. F.
Southworth as President and H. W. Duguid as Secretary. Mr. Southworth
was for many years connected with Ginn & Company.

During the first year the Company brought out a list of twelve books.
This list increased until on February 1, 1921, it contained more than
fifty titles.


UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY.--This firm was incorporated in 1868
under New York State law. Prominent among the promoters and original
stockholders of the Company were Horace Greeley, August Belmont,
W. H. Aspinwall, G. B. Hallgarten, W. R. Travers, Eugene Kelly, J.
B. Alexander, Richard L. Edwards, and many others of New York. In
Baltimore, Robert Garrett & Sons, brokers controlling the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad, A. S. Able of the Baltimore _Sun_, C. H. Latrobe, at one
time Mayor of Baltimore, John Hopkins, W. T. Walters, owner of the once
famous Peach Blow Vase, were stockholders. Jefferson Davis and Joseph
E. Johnson subscribed for stock, and Dr. Howard Crosby, the famous
divine of New York, was an enthusiastic supporter. General John B.
Gordon was interested in the Company and was for many years a director
and Vice President of the concern.

The educators agreed upon as authors of the new books were all
university men, and this fact gave its name to the Company. The list
of authors included Dr. Basil L. Gildersleeve of Johns Hopkins
University, Matthew F. Maury, author of _The Physical Geography of the
Sea_, Dr. George F. Holmes, Charles S. Venable of the University of
Virginia, and Professor William Hand Brown. Of the books published,
Maury’s Physical Geographies and Gildersleeve’s Latin Grammar at once
took their places as standard authorities.

Early in 1873, Ezra D. Barker was elected General Manager by the
directors. He supervised the revision of Holmes’ Readers and Spellers,
Maury’s Primary and Grammar School Geographies, and Venable’s
Arithmetic.

In 1888, Mr. C. L. Patton cast his fortune with the Company and came
to New York as the Manager of the Agents’ Introduction Department. In
1892, Mr. Patton reorganized the Company, which took over the plates
and publishing rights of the J. B. Lippincott schoolbook list, also a
list of books published by F. F. Hansell & Brother of New Orleans.

On the 31st of December, 1906, the directors of the Company decided
to go into voluntary liquidation. In this liquidation the grammar
school books were sold to the American Book Company, Gildersleeve’s
Latin Series to D. C. Heath & Company, Eadies’ Physiologies to Charles
Scribner’s Sons, and the Standard Literature Series and all remaining
publications to Newson & Company.


ATKINSON, MENTZER & COMPANY.--This firm was organized in 1898 under
the name of Hathaway & Atkinson. At the end of the year Mr. Hathaway
withdrew and the firm’s name became Atkinson & Mentzer. In 1899, the
firm published its first book, namely, the _Ivanhoe Historical Note
Book_. In 1904, Mr. Edwin Osgood Grover joined the organization and the
firm name was changed to Atkinson, Mentzer & Grover. The first book
published under this imprint was the _Art Literature Primer_. In 1911
Mr. Grover severed his connection with the firm, which from that time
on has done business under the name of Atkinson, Mentzer & Company.

       *       *       *       *       *

The writer regrets to state that he has not been able to get authentic
data for historical accounts of the old firms of Brewer & Tileston
and William Ware & Company of Boston, J. H. Butler & Company, E. H.
Butler & Company, and Cowperthwait Company of Philadelphia, or Taintor
Brothers of New York. There has not been included in this record
several of the younger houses like the Southern Publishing Company of
Texas and the University Publishing Company of Nebraska. It is also a
fact that there has been no attempt to secure the records of the old
printing houses, which were not publishers as we understand the meaning
of the term.




Transcriber’s Note:

Variations in spelling and punctuation, and the use of italic (denoted
by underscores), have been retained as they appear in the original
publication except as follows:

  Page 11
    from Longfellow, Lowell Emerson, _changed to_
    from Longfellow, Lowell, Emerson,

  Page 20
    Sander’s School Readers _changed to_
    Sanders’ School Readers

  Page 26
    LYONS & CARNAHAN. This _changed to_
    LYONS & CARNAHAN.--This

  Page 31
    SCHWARTZ, KIRWIN & FAUSS. This _changed to_
    SCHWARTZ, KIRWIN & FAUSS.--This