Messrs. Carey and Lea of Philadelphia: A Study in the History of the Booktrade [Reprint 2016 ed.] 9781512803129

Table of contents :
Preface
Contents
Illustrations
Part One: The History of the Firm
1. The Young Partners
2. The Early Years
3. Supremacy
4. The Drive to Retirement
Part Two: The Firm's Place in the Booktrade
5. Publishing American Authors
6. The Reprint Trade
7. Law, Medicine, Science, and Technology
8. Special Ventures
9. Relations with Others in the Trade
10. Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

MESSRS. CAREY 8c LEA OF PHILADELPHIA

Messrs. Carey 8c Lea of Philadelphia A Study in the History of the Booktrade

by

David Kaser

Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

© 1957 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Published in Great Britain, India, and Pakistan by the Oxford University Press London, Bombay, and Karachi Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 57-11771

Printed in the United States of America American Book-Stratford Press, Inc., New York

To R. W. Hazlett who first invited my attention to an imprint

Preface little is known about the American booktrade during the first half of the nineteenth century, about the identity of its members, the work they did, or the way in which they operated. Some information is available in memoirs and autobiographies, but these are often replete with inaccuracies, plagued with omissions, and distorted with exaggerated or biased loyalty. They are of limited value to the researcher. It has been the purpose of this study to search out and piece together one segment of the nineteenth-century booktrade—the history of a Philadelphia publishing house as it was directed between 1822 and 1838 by Messrs. Henry C. Carey and Isaac Lea. During at least part of this period the firm was probably America's largest house, yet today the imprint, Carey & Lea, is almost forgotten. It is fortunate that some few of the Carey & Lea house records are still extant. These extant records have been preserved in three separate collections. T h e first is in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and includes: (1) the firm's Letter Books containing the letters written between January, 1822, and June, 1823, and between June, 1834, and SepURPRISINGLY

S

7

8

Preface

tember, 1835, (2) the letters received by the firm during 1822; (3) the Cost Book of the firm covering the years 1825-1838. T h e second group of records, which were rescued from a paper baler by a junk dealer and are now in the American Antiquarian Society, includes most of the firm's Receipt Books. T h e third group consists of about 130 letters from Henry C. Carey to his father Mathew, written between 1828 and 1835. They have found their way into the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan. I should like to express my appreciation to the authorities of these three institutions for allowing me to consult and quote these materials. Less extensive, but not less appreciated, are the materials quoted from the collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania Library. These groups of materials, together with what bits of information may be gleaned from other sources, not only tell an interesting story of human enterprise during an important period of American development, but they also allow some new insight into the working of the nineteenthcentury booktrade. I have attempted, in the following pages, to present both. Yet, few treatises are ever wholly the work of one person. This one is no exception. Many, many persons have aided me in the compilation of these materials and the organization of this story. Four librarians were especially helpful. William S. Ewing, curator of manuscripts at the Clements Library, was exceedingly tolerant of my many requests for service in his department. So also was Harold B. Martin of the manuscript division of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. A great deal of bibliographic assist-

Preface

9

ance was willingly furnished by R o b e r t D. Stevens, assista n t chief of the union catalog division of the L i b r a r y of Congress. I have received m u c h encouragement a n d wise counsel, as well as considerable assistance, from that fine b i b l i o g r a p h e r , my wife. F o u r persons have read a n d m a d e i n v a l u a b l e c o m m e n t s u p o n the manuscript. University of M i c h i g a n professors R u d o l p h H . Gjelsness, A r n o L . B a d e r , Russell E. Bidlack, and R a y m o n d L . K i l g o u r b r o u g h t their k n o w l e d g e of literary history a n d the booktrade to b e a r u p o n this study, a n d their many pertinent suggestions h a v e i m p r o v e d it in almost every respect. I appreciate the kindness of the H . W. Wilson C o m p a n y a n d the L o u i s i a n a State University Press in allowing m e to q u o t e materials in their control. I a m also indebted to the B i b l i o g r a p h i c a l Society of A m e r i c a for p e r m i t t i n g me to reproduce, almost verbatim, an article of m i n e that has already a p p e a r e d in the pages of its Papers. T h i s m o n o g r a p h was originally s u b m i t t e d as a doctoral dissertation in the University of Michigan. It has since been revised, pared down, a n d r o u n d e d out, b u t it remains substantially the same work. T h e only m a j o r change in the present r e n d e r i n g is the omission of a n a p p e n d i x that h a d contained a catalog of 893 Carey 8c L e a imprints. T h e author is at present p r e p a r i n g for p u b l i c a t i o n the m a n u s c r i p t of Carey & L e a ' s Cost Book which, when it appears, will wholly supersede that a p p e n d i x . For that reason it was n o t d e e m e d necessary to include it here. D. K.

Contents PREFACE PART ONE:

1. 2. 3. 4.

7 THE HISTORY OF T H E

FIRM

T h e Young Partners T h e Early Years Supremacy T h e Drive to Retirement

17 23 39 53

PART T W O : T H E FIRM'S P L A C E IN T H E BOOKTRADE

5. 6. 7. 8.

Publishing American Authors T h e Reprint Trade Law, Medicine, Science, and Technology Special Ventures T h e Book Trade Sales The Encyclopaedia Americana The Atlantic Souvenir 9. Relations with Others in the Trade 10. Conclusion NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

67 91 117 125 125 133 138 143 157 159 173 177

Illustrations (The illustrations appear as a group following page 80) HENRY C. CAREY ISAAC LEA CAREY'S BOOK STORE,

1837

Cost Book Encyclopaedia

PAGE F R O M T H E C. & L. T I T L E PAGE O F T H E

Americana

Part One The History of the Firm

1. The Young Partners there is a parking lot on the southeast corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia. Streetcars clatter south on Fourth Street and east on Chestnut, and both streets, although narrow, carry considerable automobile traffic. T h e corner is in the center of the tourist area, with Carpenters' Hall, meeting place of the first Continental Congress, on one side, and Nicholas Biddle's Second Bank of the United States, later the Old Custom House, on the other. Fourth and Chestnut is one block east of Independence Square, in the heart of Philadelphia's old town, and, like most other corners in the vicinity, it too has had its distinguished history. ODAY

T

In 1821 this corner was occupied by a neat, four-story brick building. It was Mathew Carey's bookstore. Mathew Carey was an irascible, lovable, controversial character who had emigrated from Ireland and had been printing in Philadelphia since 1785. His magazines, books, newspapers, writings, his philanthropies and dueling, as well as his relations with William Cobbett, Parson Weems, and the Marquis de Lafayette are well known in the annals of Philadelphia and the American booktrade. But on January 1, 1822, 1 Mathew retired, and his stock and business were purchased by his son and his son-in-law, Henry C. Carey and Isaac Lea. Henry Charles Carey was born December 15, 1793, and, perhaps as much as any man who ever lived, was bred to his trade. It is impossible to say just how old he was when he sold his first book, but it was undoubtedly at an age at 17

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which few children can yet make change for a dollar. W h e n America's first literary fair was held in New York in 1802, Henry was present, not only assisting his father, but also doing business on his own account with a small stock of books. H e was eight years old at the time, and his precociousness attracted considerable attention among the booktrade, earning for him the epithet, "bookseller in miniature." 2 W h e n he was twelve years old he spent a summer in Baltimore, managing his father's branch establishment at 229 Market Street. 3 In 1808, when Henry was fifteen, he was made responsible for much of the financial dealing of his father's firm. In 1811 his obligations were extended considerably, and finally, on January 1, 1817, he was taken into the firm as a j u n i o r partner. T h e new firm, M. Carey & Son, was to pay H e n r y $2,500 per annum, in return " f o r which he binds himself to superintend the business." 4 Many years later, in a letter to his father, Henry summarized his early bookselling experiences as follows: Twenty five years have nearly elapsed since I had charge of the store in Balt r —Twenty two years since I did all the borrowing—Nineteen years since I had the management of the chief part of the business, 8c 16 years since I have managed it almost entirely 5 Henry had little formal schooling. H e had read widely, although somewhat superficially. H e had considerable imagination and foresight that he matched with a high degree of business acumen and financial sagacity. He entered the firm at a time when his father's interests were rapidly turning from publishing and bookselling to things philan-

The Young Partners

19

thropic and economic, and to civic enterprises. After 1817 Mathew seldom even came to the store. Henry had, from that time, almost free rein in the business, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. Henry wanted to expand the business. T h r e e months after he entered the firm, he was writing to Longmans in London indicating that M. Carey & Son would like to obtain copies of "such new works that come out as may be likely to bear publication in this country." 6 H e announced the firm's willingness to pay $250 per a n n u m to an agent who would exert his judgment in selecting such titles from the English market and send them with the greatest possible dispatch to Philadelphia. Longmans suggested J o h n Miller of Henrietta Street, London, as a likely person. Arrangements were made, and Miller served the firm a n d its successors in this capacity until 1861. Miller's j u d g m e n t must have been good, because, although m i n o r differences of opinion arose, there were never any serious difficulties between the two men. T h i s was a remarkable relationship, because, where his pocketbook was concerned, Henry was never an easy man to please. H e n r y also began expanding the market by establishing new outlets and by letting out lots of books on consignment to merchants. T h e firm's coverage of the United States and Canada was extended to include Richmond, New Orleans, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Natchez, Albany, a n d Montreal. Attempts were made to establish agencies abroad. Representatives were soon selling Carey's books in Canton and Gibraltar, Buenos Aires a n d Calcutta. Bookselling in foreign lands, however, proved to be a hazardous business because of difficulties in remitting funds, prob-

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lems in shipping stock, apparent capriciousness on the part of local authorities in impounding shipments, and poor communications. In one transaction abroad Henry reported to his father that not only had the firm had to sell a shipment of books at a $2,000 loss, but also that the remittance of $1,949 for the sale had failed to arrive.7 Henry later considered it unprofitable to send books abroad. Under Henry's guidance the firm also began to publish a greater variety of material. Whereas single titles had occupied its attention in the past, the firm now began publishing large, expensive, multivolume sets, such as Francis Vesey, junior's Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery, in nineteen volumes. It began publishing journals, such as the ill-fated Journal of Jurisprudence, and the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, the successor of which is still being published. Despite such innovations, however, the period of real expansion was not to come until after January 1, 1822, when Henry obtained complete control of the firm. Henry's new partner was Isaac Lea. Isaac was a year and a half older than Henry, and, as opposed to Henry's extensive experience in the booktrade, Isaac may be said to have "backed into the business." He had moved to Philadelphia in 1807 from Wilmington, Delaware, where he had been born into a Quaker family. He had worked for a time in his brother's importing firm and early became interested in natural science, especially in geology, mineralogy, and conchology. In 1815 he had been elected to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. His first published work appeared in the Journal of the Academy

The Young Partners

21

in 1818 and was entitled, "An Account of the Minerals at Present Known to Exist in the Vicinity of Philadelphia." He continued to write for almost sixty years; a bibliography of his writings contains 279 items 8 Early in 1821 Isaac married Mathew Carey's daughter, Frances Anne. Although the firm had already been promised to Henry, the son now offered to relinquish part of his "birthright" and take Isaac into the firm as a junior partner. 9 Consequently, when Isaac and Frances returned from their honeymoon, on April 24, 1821, the name of the firm was changed from M. Carey & Son to M. Carey & Sons. 10 In his relations with Isaac, Henry again showed one of his rare attitudes of tolerance. Isaac was not a good bookseller, nor did he ever become a good publisher, yet such records as are extant never indicate any ill-feeling existing between the brothers-in-law. After over ten years in partnership Henry could write to his father without sarcasm that Isaac "is scarcely more of a bookseller now than he was then. . . . H e has many good qualities, b u t is too fond of shells to make a bookseller." 11 Isaac maintained some of the firm's records, and in this work he seems to have done well. H e probably approached nearest to the true function of a publisher, however, when the firm was considering for publication an occasional title in the natural sciences. These were the two young men who headed the new firm, H . C. Carey & I. Lea, when it was born on January 1, 1822. Henry was imaginative, Isaac stable, and both were industrious. Isaac was tolerant a n d self-effacing; Henry was impatient and self-asserting. T h e s e characteristics probably proved to be mutually beneficial. T h e y pur-

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Messrs. Carey ir Lea of

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chased the firm from the elder Carey in a most complex financial transaction 12 that hampered the new firm somewhat for over a decade but was so designed as to allow it almost continuous expansion if operated wisely.

2. The Early Years HEN Henry and Isaac began publishing on their own in January, 1822, there was every reason to believe that their future contained only the most profitable ventures. Henry had expanded the business to its present state, and he was confident that he could continue to build it even larger. There seemed to be an almost insatiable demand for books—if they were the right books. M. Carey & Sons had been publishing some medical titles, quite a few law books, novels and romances, and other general literature. Henry had no immediate plans for changing the type of material they were publishing. They would, instead, expand their markets even more, and, as far as possible, they would publish more books.

W

T h e period was one of individualism among the American booktrade. There was copyright protection only for American authors; anyone was free to reprint a foreign book. Consequently many firms were beginning to hire English agents, such as Carey & Lea's John Miller, to forward first copies of salable English titles by as fast transportation as could be had. In some few cases English agents were also authorized to purchase advance prepublication proof sheets of likely works from British publishing houses. Such arrangements could thus insure priority over a firm that was to obtain only a first copy of the finished work. It was a rough business. T h e best-selling author of the time was, in America as well as in Britain, the "great Unknown of the North," the anonymous author of Waverley, Sir Walter Scott. Mathew 23

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Carey had reprinted Waverley in 1814, and the firm had tried to be first on the streets with all of Scott's subsequent novels. T h e arrival of advance sheets of a Scott title from England was a high point in the publishing year. Work on everything else stopped while Scott was being printed. When the firm won a race with a rival American house in reprinting a Waverley novel, it was a glorious victory, because there was such a ravenous demand for the book that the whole edition could be sold off in twenty-four hours. When it lost a race, however, it was a miserable defeat, because there was lost not only the cost of publication but the added cost of purchasing the advance sheets as well. T h e firm had had its share of both victories and defeats. A Waverley novel, The Pirate, was in press when Henry and Isaac took over the firm. It appeared in January, and, close upon its heels, there appeared in July the Fortunes of Nigel. Much to Henry's sorrow and disgust, the firm lost both of these races to rival houses. Later in the year, however, Henry established with Constable and Company of Edinburgh a new "foolproof" arrangement for receiving advance sheets of Scott's novels. Under the new arrangement the firm had the whole market to itself in selling off Peveril of the Peak, which appeared in March, 1823. Thereafter the firm published Scott's novels in this country until the author's death in 1832, and it never again lost a race. More details of the fortunes and misfortunes attendant upon the firm's publishing of Scott's novels will be discussed later in this study. In the regular course of a week's work Carey & Lea had to perform many business transactions of various kinds

The Early

Years

25

in New York. They had, of course, to sell books there. T h e firm supplied many New York booksellers with stocks of its publications. An agent or representative of the firm had also to meet all vessels that arrived from England to see that any packages for Carey & Lea were rushed through customs and placed on the first mail stage to Philadelphia. Since these packages contained copies of English works that might bear reprinting in the United States, and, since other American publishing houses could be receiving copies of the same books via the same ship, the utmost dispatch was required in their handling. Earlier such packages had been allowed to arrive in New York, go conventionally through customs, and be sent on to Philadelphia via the regular mail, without benefit of individual attention from anyone. T h i s delayed their arrival in Philadelphia and often cheated a Carey & Lea edition of a salable title out of priority in the market. Henry was an impatient man and was irked and annoyed by the official "red tape" that was delaying the mail. O n the 5th of February, 1822, he wrote a long letter to the Secretary of State, explaining the problems brought u p o n the firm by the practices in the Customs office: Having suffered for a considerable time past, in common with the other Booksellers of this city, very considerable inconvenience, from the System pursued at the Customhouse at New York, we take the liberty to address you on the subject, in hopes that some arrangement may be made by which we shall be able to avoid, in future, the difficulties that have heretofore taken place.—We have a correspondent in London to Whom we pay a considerable sum per annum to send us

26

Messrs. Carey & Lea of

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the first copies of such new Books as come out as are likely to bear publication in this country.—These copies are generally sent via New York, on account of the more frequent opportunities to that Port. It is a matter of very great importance to us that when they arrive they should come on to us permail immediately as they are put in the letter bag and are of very small value, we should suppose it could not be worth the while of the Customhouse to stop them. Notwithstanding this it generally happens that when any work of very particular interest arrives there, it goes to the Customhouse and we do not receive it until after we have written to New York to have it entered, thus causing a delay of several days to our very great loss and inconvenience. T h e Booksellers of New York being upon the spot are advised immediately of the arrival of their copies, and are enabled to have them immediately, while we, as above stated are sometimes delayed nearly a week. . . . W e therefore beg leave to suggest that you would give directions to the Collector of New York, to have all parcels of the kind we allude to which come in the letter bags 8c are sent to the Customhouse, promptly examined 8c whenever they are found to contain a single book or two books that they would be sent to the post office to be forwarded. 1 Henry's letter was forwarded to Mr. Joseph Anderson, C o m p t r o l l e r , for response, who wrote on February 22 that although he sincerely regretted the inconvenience to the Philadelphia booktrade, he could . . . only direct the officers of the Customs in the performance of their official duties, as designated by law, it would exceed my powers to require the Collector at New York to comply with your wishes, only so doing, I should assume the power of enjoining upon him a duty not required of him by law, and which he might or might not comply with at his pleasure. 2

The Early

Years

27

He went on to suggest that Carey & Lea hire an agent in New York to get their things through customs for them. Henry had already anticipated the Comptroller's suggestion by a month. He decided, however, that such an agent would not do these things alone, but might also superintend a branch store for him. On January 20, 1822, Henry had written to Daniel D. Arden, of Raleigh, North Carolina, proposing such a store and inviting Arden to take charge of operations. Arden took the job and moved to New York early in the spring. On April 30 the store was opened in New York, on Broadway Street, under the name H. C. Carey & Co., with Daniel D. Arden managing. Isaac appears to have had nothing to do with the New York establishment. A good stock of books was laid in, and business was begun. T h e firm found Arden useful in many ways. In addition to his services in the Customhouse and as a bookseller, Arden proved to be a good listening post in the New York trade. His letters report the gossip, the news, and the rumors from the market in that city. Carey & Lea frequently found this news of considerable value to them. He also served as the firm's wholesale outlet in New York. Previously, if the firm wanted a special shipment of books broken up and distributed to several New York booksellers, they had had to send an agent from Philadelphia to see that it was handled properly. Arden was also useful in the rapid transshipping of rush orders from the New York stage to northern towns such as Boston, Hartford, and Portland. A half-dozen or so books were even published with the imprint, "New York. H. C. Carey & Co."

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Messrs. Carey 6· Lea of

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Before the store had been open three months, however, Henry was complaining of the lack of profits. Arden attributed part of the lack of receipts to the feelings of the New York booksellers. " T h e y do affect a jealously," he reported, "that you should have any thing to do here: that they have little reason for it, the amount of sales hitherto may speak." 3 As though insufficient business were not trouble enough, on the night of July 16 the New York store was robbed. T h e culprit was never apprehended, but during the night of August 6 he accommodatingly stuffed all the unnegotiable loot back under the front door of the store, thus minimizing the loss to Henry and to Arden. T h e n the yellow fever epidemic of 1822 struck New York. On August 19 Arden reported, " T h e alarm of Y. Fever has stopped all business, and nearly depopulated this part of the town." By August 23 it had spread so that "the stores are shut up all around me." Finally, on August 31 Arden decided to follow his neighbors and close up shop "for a few days." He remained closed for two full months, reopening on October 30. 4 In October Henry was still worried about the lack of profits, but he vacillated. His feelings were unsettled. On December 3, he informed Arden that he was considering making the store "the most extensive Law Book store in that place," but he never did it. In April, 1823, he impatiently looked over the year's receipts, went to New York, and closed out the store on the last day of the month. T h e store had been open for exactly one year. Had it been a normal year the period would have been a very brief one for such a trial venture. But sustaining, as it

The Early Years

29

did, a robbery and a two-month shutdown, Henry's action in closing the store might appear somewhat precipitous. H e was an impatient man, however, and one not afraid to make a decision, a n d his action was undoubtedly dictated by what appeared best to him at the moment. W i t h the exception of the excitement attendant u p o n the appearance of a new Waverley novel and the interest in the New York store, two m a j o r projects required the full attention of the firm d u r i n g 1822 a n d 1823. T h e s e were the issuing of the American Atlas5 and the q u a r t o Bible.® Both of these works were elaborate, a n d both req u i r e d special attention. T h e American Atlas appeared first. M. Carey &: Son h a d earlier issued Lavoisne's General Atlas, and the new work was to supplement Lavoisne with the latest and most complete i n f o r m a t i o n available concerning the western hemisphere—especially the United States. Maps were difficult to obtain, a n d the firm exerted its utmost ingenuity to locate recent, authentic material for the work. T h e firm's correspondence files for the period contain m a n y letters to a n d f r o m surveyors, map-makers, government officials, postmasters, a n d other i n f o r m e d persons in t h e U n i t e d States a n d Canada, seeking o u t maps a n d information for the atlas. It was an expensive work to produce. Fortunately for the firm, however, many of the maps were d o n e by J o h n Melish, geographer and m a p and print p u b lisher of Philadelphia, who was anxious to work off a n old debt to Mathew Carey and who consequently accepted a contract advantageous to the publishers. His final bill was $1,177, b u t Melish asserted that he should not otherwise have done the work for less than $2,000. 7

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Messrs. Carey & Lea of

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Expensive volumes such as the American Atlas required sale by subscription in addition to conventional bookstore retailing. For over six months prior to the appearance of the volume, Carey 8c Lea had had many itinerant booksellers acquiring subscribers. They regularly paid 12.5 per cent of the retail price to the person obtaining the subscription and a like amount to the person who should later deliver the volume. These agents were frequently one and the same, making a commission of 25 per cent possible to some traveling sellers. T h e retail price of the atlas was set at $20. Itinerant booksellers frequently experienced considerable difficulty in disposing of their wares. One "subscriptioneer," James Pennoyer, of the bookselling firm of Pennoyer & McKean of New Orleans, reported from Quebec on October 3, 1822, that: Some person, I know not who, has indeavored to injure the Sale of our American A by saying that it contained language most abusive to the Inhabitants of the Provinces of Canada, which threw me into considerable imbarisment, having been told of it by a number of my Subrs.8 Pennoyer offered a free copy of the atlas to anyone who could prove an inaccuracy in his sample copy. When he found he had no takers he thought he must have overcome the anonymous complainers. Such \vas not his good fortune, however. Less than a week later he wrote from Montreal: I had the Devils own trouble with my subrs in that place of nondescripts [Three Rivers], in consequence of some objections they took to the Atlas relative to the Statement of

The Early Years

31

some of the Naval Engagements, And was extremely glad to take back the Lavoisne I delivered last Season which I had left unpaid for, they would not even look at the American; and called it a Mass of Misstatements and falsehoods. I indeavored to soften their wrath, but, like Old Burkets Son, they would not hear to reason, I however got rid of them by trouncing only one, which was on Sunday evening I left there, who was a fellow (not one of my subrs) who met me on the beach just as the S[team] B[oat] arrived from Quebec to Three Rivers, who said as I was passing him, There goes the Atlas fellow I presume he is glad to get clear of this place without a drubbing. I replied that it would take two like him to do it, he then advanced, and I set to to tantalize him, (which by the by, I consider myself no slouch at.) in order to get him to make a blow at me, which he did, & I fortunately caught it on my hand and at the instant sent a well directed shot under leg which made his jaws rattle like a dice box & brought him to the ground. I follow'd up with several blows which I have reason to think he will remember for a month. I have no doubt Gentn, but you highly disapprove of any proceedings of the kind above named. 8 Henry's response was o n e of measured moderation. " T a k e care n o t to get into any more scrapes," he admonished, "& send us money." 10 Carey & Lea had expected great sales to come f r o m the subscriptioneering of their agent, the " D e a n " of all itine r a n t booksellers, the Reverend Mason Locke Weems. 1 1 T h i s colorful figure and well-known a u t h o r had sold books for the firm for over two decades a n d appears to have b e e n eminently more successful in his bookselling enterprises t h a n any of his less-illustrious colleagues. In 1822 he was traveling through the southeastern states for Carey & Lea.

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He was supposed to get subscriptions to the American Atlas and to sell copies of Lavoisne's General Atlas. He could incidentally, if he so desired, obtained subscribers to the elegant quarto Bible that the firm was planning to issue in the following season. Carey & Lea were soon to regret having revealed to Parson Weems their intention of reissuing the Bible. T h e worthy parson became so interested in the prospect of selling Bibles that he all but forget the atlases. Carey & Lea complained, pointing out to Weems that the atlas came first. They could not issue the Bible until after the atlas was paid for. Weems answered: I will make a trial. But if you cou'd let me give my chief attention to the Bible, I really think considering the universal respect paid to the Book, I shoud be able to do good things for you. Consider how every subr. tells, when the book is so Heavy as thirty dollars. . . . But in urging the splendid Bible I do not mean to forget the Atlasses altogether. I wanted to run them together i. e. when unsuccessful with the Bible, because of a half a dozen in the family already, I meant t3 propose the Atlasses.12 This kind of logic was not welcome to Henry. H ; pointed out that the Bible would not be ready until the following winter, whereas Lavoisne was already available, and the American Atlas was in press. Despite Henry's solicitations, subscriptions received were overwhelming^ in favor of the Bible. Finally Henry wrote: We are afraid that you are neglecting the Atlases for the Bibles. We think it hardly possible that you will fail to obtain 250 subs for Lavoisne & 500 for American atlas in S. C. & Geo

The Early

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33

by pushing them properly. W e beg your attention to them 8c that you will recollect that we consider them of more importance than the Bible . . . We do not wish you to stay in S. C. 8c Geo. during the Summer unless you feel perfectly satisfied of your safety. W e will not have to answer to your family for your death. Atlas. Atlas. Atlas. Atlas.13

Weems did not choose to understand. "You complain of getting more subs for the Bible," he answered, " T h e fact is I generally present both. And the preference is generally given to the former, which perhaps ought not grieve as it is 10$ more." 14 Henry moaned his response, "You have not obtained 50 subscribers [to the American Atlas] when by giving it your undivided attention you might have had 5 0 0 . " 1 5 Weems pointed out that he entered South Carolina about the middle of Jany and since that time (say 41/2 months) I have gotten within a fraction of 200 subs for the Splendid Bible, and 100 for Amn. Atlas—making near 8,000$ and yet you complain. For my part I do heartily thank God for such good success especially in these starving times. But you wd have preferred them in the Atlasses rather than the Bibles. 16

Henry gave up. He came to the conclusion that he had no more influence with the incorrigible parson than had his father before him. T h e atlas appeared in July, and somehow the complete edition had been subscribed. T h e work was eminently successful. A second edition was put to press in September. A third edition appeared in 1827. W i t h i n three years of the work's initial appearance there had been a London reprinting, two Paris editions in French translation, and a German edition. 1 7

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Meanwhile Henry was glad to be able to report to Weems that "the Bible will be out by Christmas." He was probably glad also, now that the atlas was finally out of the way, that Weems had done as well as he had with the Bible, but he did not bring up the subject. Weems had decided to spend the summer in the south, but . . . if I spend my summer in this torrid clime [he decided] it w0 be in cooler shades & watering places of the mountains of the West where the Mammoths of our Race are wont to meet for Health 8c Pleasure. 18 T o Henry's great satisfaction, Weems continued to work hard with the Bible throughout the summer and found many subscribers among the "Mammoths." By the time the Bible finally appeared on January 8, 1823, it had been heavily subscribed. It was indeed a fine Bible, a reissue, now stereotyped, of Mathew's quarto Bible of 1812. It contained many copperplate maps and woodcut illustrations. 1823 was a year of little excitement in the booktrade. Henry felt that perhaps the firm had been slightly overextended in 1822. A large proportion of the firm's assets were tied up in stock and debts. As early as July 29, 1822, Henry had written to Arden, " W e have quite too much stock & too little money, occasioned by the great difficulty in making collections. W e have not less than $150,000 due to us at this moment." 19 Henry was willing to accept almost anything in payment for some of the debts due the firm. A bookseller in Havana remitted as payment aboard the brig Philadelphia, "thirty-six Boxes of White sugar, and fifteen thousand segars." 2 0 A correspondent in Savan-

The Early

Years

35

nah paid his bill by sending a shipload of cotton to Carey's credit at Liverpool. 21 Henry mentioned the desired curtailment to John Neal, the novelist. " T h e people generally are very poor and cannot afford to buy anything. We wish therefore to limit our expenditures for a time." 2 2 This desire to limit expenditures had an impact upon the number of titles the firm issued. In 1822, forty-two new titles appeared with the firm's imprint, whereas in 1823 only twenty-eight new titles were issued. Henry had for some time wished to visit Europe. As early as 1822, the firm had written to John Miller indicating that Henry was desirous of making such a trip, "but at present it is impossible to say how many months will elapse before he can do so." 2 3 Finally, in 1825, things appeared to be moving along sufficiently smoothly to allow him to depart. Isaac had now had four years' experience in the business, and Henry's younger brother, Edward L. Carey, was working for the firm. Also there was William A. Blanchard. Little is known of Blanchard except that he had entered Mathew Carey's service in 1812 and was later to become a junior, then a senior, partner in the firm.24 With these three in the office, Henry now felt that he could be spared for a time. T h e purpose of his voyage was severalfold. Primarily it was to give him an opportunity to get acquainted with the European trade, but it was also to allow him to buy books for resale in this country and to visit his wife's brother, the celebrated American artist, Charles Robert Leslie, then residing in England. Henry used his visit with Leslie to get some desired art work done. T h e firm was, at the time, planning to issue

36

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Philadelphia

the first number of the Atlantic Souvenir, the American progenitor of the long tradition of literary annuals. These literary annuals were intended to be as fine as money could buy, in quality of materials, literary and artistic productions, and in workmanship. Furthermore, it was planned that the new work should contain only the products of American authors and artists. T h e Atlantic Souvenir for 1826 appeared on December 6 of the preceding year and was an immediate success. It will be discussed in greater detail later in this study. In September, 1825, prior to Henry's return, the National Gazette reported that: Messrs Carey & Lea, of this city, have just imported from London, and exhibited for sale, a splendid collection of books, consisting of about thirty thousand volumes in almost every branch of literature. . . . T h e whole collection was purchased two or three months ago by one of the members of the firm.25 T h e firm issued a forty-page catalogue of these importations, 2 6 all of which were English language publications. T h i s , however, was only a portion of the books Henry had purchased. T h r e e months later, on December 24, 1825, the Gazette announced that Carey & Lea had . . . lately received an extensive collection of French, Spanish and Italian works of the highest reputation. . . . The exertions of those gentlemen in accumulating so rich a provision of useful and amusing books in various languages, deserve to be noticed, and encouraged in every way. T h e newspaper went on to point out that these books, too, had been purchased in Europe by the senior member of the firm.

The Early

Years

37

H e n r y apparently accomplished his original purposes very satisfactorily. H e and his wife had arrived in England early in the summer, had spent some time on the continent, had purchased very large supplies of books, h a d obtained art work from Leslie, and had made many valuable business contacts. O n November 13 they arrived home, and Mathew recorded in his diary, "Met Henry on the wharf . . . a joyful meeting with the traveller." 27 Following the temporary publishing retrenchment that the firm went through in 1823, it resumed its expansion. O n September 24, 1824, the Gazette described the firm's productions. A list, it said, . . . of the works published by Messrs. Carey 8c Lea comprises one hundred, making 265 volumes—of which 3 in folio; 13 quarto; 175 octavo; 53 duodecimo; 5 18mo; 16 24mo. All of them, except about ten, have been issued within three years. In the same period of time, Messrs. C. 8c L. have published about fifty other works, exclusive [of] pamphlets and second editions. T h i s was indeed an impressive array of the firm's work. I t had issued thirty-seven new titles in 1824; it issued thirty-eight in 1825. W i t h the issuing of these thirty-eight titles ended the firm's first four years. It had been a per i o d of struggle not for survival b u t rather for supremacy. T h e firm had become larger a n d much stronger d u r i n g t h e period. Evidence of the firm's developing r e p u t a t i o n m a y be seen in the fact that in 1824 it had been able to d r a w into its atelier the m a n who was perhaps the most f a m o u s American a u t h o r of the period. In that year the firm published Tales of a Traveller; By Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

3 . Supremacy had, for several years, been attempting to lure America's greatest creative writers to his firm. He had published John Neal's Logan in 1822, but that work had been attended with little success. The 1824 printing of Tales of a Traveller, by Washington Irving, is the first indication that, among creative writers, the firm was attaining nationally recognized supremacy in the booktrade and consequently was felt to be one that could do more toward making an author widely known than could any of its competitors. Another contract was not arranged with Irving until 1828, but from that time forward, for many years, his works were published by Carey & Lea. ENRY

H

Henry's second "break" came early in 1826 when the firm published its first title by James Fenimore Cooper. Henry had been trying for at least four years to attract Cooper to the firm, but until now he had been unsuccessful. Finally, on February 6, 1826, The Last of the Mohicans appeared with the firm's imprint. For over a decade thereafter Carey & Lea published the novelist's works. T h e firm's relations with both Irving and Cooper are discussed later in more detail. Carey & Lea had several other channels available through which they could patronize American men and women of letters. First was the Atlantic Souvenir, which began in 1825 and appeared annually over the firm's imprint through 1832. For stories and poems in the Souvenir the firm paid between one and two dollars per page. Among the authors whose works appeared in the Souvenir were James Kirke Paulding, Catharine M. Sedgwick, Wil39

40

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liam Cullen Bryant, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Washington Irving, and John Irving. In 1826 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made the acquaintance of Carey & Lea and wrote some verses for the Souvenirs of 1826 and 1828. None of Longfellow's other works was ever published by the firm. In 1830 he submitted to the publishers two parts of his Sketch Book of New England. The publishers examined the copy but rejected it reluctantly, giving as their reasons prior commitments, their feeling that it would not sell well enough to pay him anything, and their curtailment in all kinds of publishing except science books.1 Nathaniel Hawthorne also offered to write for Carey & Lea. He pointed out to them that he had written several anonymous short stories for the Token and would be happy to write similar material for the Souvenir if the publishers felt his work was of satisfactory caliber. 2 This was in 1832, and the firm had to refuse because it was selling the Souvenir to another publishing house. In 1829 Edgar Allan Poe offered to write for the Souvenir, but apparently his offer was not accepted.3 Another medium for publishing American authors became available to Carey & Lea when they established the American Quarterly Review. The day the young publishers took over the firm they were dickering with the wellknown literary figure, Robert Walsh, concerning the establishment of a journal that he might edit for them. It would be the purpose of such a journal to be Philadelphia's counterpart to Boston's North American. Walsh, it was foreseen, would be responsible for all the matter contained in the magazine.

Supremacy

41

The selection of it—its nature & arrangement [Walsh wrote] should be entirely under my direction. I would have all political matter entirely excluded;—all religious, as it applied to particular sects;—all immorality; down to the best clothed double-entendre.4

j

It was not until 1827, however, that the project finally arrived at fruition. Walsh, as editor, received $250 quarterly, and contributors were paid two dollars per page. Among the contributing authors were James Kirke Paulding, Dr. John D. Godman, William Rawle, the attorney, and Peter Duponceau, lawyer and scholar. T h e first number of the Review was issued in an edition of 2,125 copies but required an immediate reprinting of 1,250. After a brief flurry of interest, during which circulation went as high as 4,000, the A merican Quarterly Review settled at a plateau of around 2,500 subscribers.5 Carey & Lea published the journal until 1831, when it changed imprints. An important event in the history of the firm was announced on April 10, 1827: The subscribers have this day associated with them E. L. Carey, and their business will be continued as heretofore, at the corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets, under the firm of Carey, Lea ir Carey. H. C. Carey & I. Lea 8 Edward Carey, as was mentioned earlier, was Henry's younger brother. He had journeyed to England to transact some of the firm's business in 1822 and had remained with the firm upon his return. He was to continue as a junior partner for another two and one-half years. During this period of the new partnership Henry controlled one half

42

Messrs. Carey & Lea of

Philadelphia

of the firm, a n d E d w a r d a n d Isaac o w n e d the o t h e r half. 7 O n e of t h e most e x c i t i n g events in t h e firm's history o c c u r r e d in 1827. O n D e c e m b e r 9, 1826, Carey & Lea ann o u n c e d t h e f o r t h c o m i n g p u b l i c a t i o n of Sir W a l t e r Scott's Life of Napoleon. A n y t h i n g w i t h Scott's n a m e a t t a c h e d was c e r t a i n to sell i n e n o r m o u s n u m b e r s . Likewise t h e p u b l i c was a n x i o u s to r e a d a n y t h i n g w r i t t e n a b o u t N a p o leon, a n d t h e firm h a d p u b l i s h e d every title of " N a p o l e a n a " it h a d b e e n a b l e to o b t a i n . T h i s t o t a l e d n o less t h a n seven titles, a n d all h a d sold well. W h e n Scott h a d a n n o u n c e d t h a t h e was w o r k i n g o n a life of t h e e m p e r o r , Carey & Lea b e g a n i m m e d i a t e l y to n e g o t i a t e w i t h h i m f o r early m a n u s c r i p t copy. F o r copy of W a v e r l e y novels, n o n e of w h i c h Scott h a d as yet adm i t t e d w r i t i n g , Carey & Lea h a d h a d to deal w i t h his E d i n b u r g h p u b l i s h e r s , b u t n o w they could, a n d d i d , deal directly w i t h t h e a u t h o r . Scott sold t h e m t h e copy of Napoleon for £ 2 9 5 o r $1,475.® T h e r e is n o r e c o r d of any f o r e i g n a u t h o r ever b e f o r e h a v i n g b e e n paid so m u c h by a n A m e r ican p u b l i s h e r for a n y k i n d of work. H e n r y p l a n n e d a n e d i t i o n so large t h a t c o n v e n t i o n a l hand-set type w o u l d h a v e w o r n o u t , so h e w e n t to t h e a d d e d expense of h a v i n g t h e book stereotyped. O n A u g u s t 21, 1827, Carey & Lea p u b l i s h e d t h e w o r k in t h r e e v o l u m e s octavo—the English p r i n t i n g was n i n e v o l u m e s twelvemo—in t h e e n o r m o u s e d i t i o n of 12,250 copies, 1,250 of w h i c h w e r e p r i n t e d o n coarse p a p e r . I n days w h e n the average novel or r o m a n c e was considered a p r o f i t a b l e v e n t u r e if f r o m 500 to 1,000 copies c o u l d b e w o r k e d off, this e d i t i o n of 12,250 copies was c o n s i d e r e d i m m e n s e . O n e n e w s p a p e r , h a v i n g as yet h e a r d

Supremacy

43

only of the 11,000-copy, fine-paper issue, pointed out that it was "the greatest quantity of a book of its size, ever printed at once, in this, or, perhaps, any other country." T h e account then went on to praise Carey, Lea 8c Carey for making foreign works so rapidly available in the American market: The time fixed for the appearance of the work in London was the 30th June:—It could not have been sent hither regularly, sooner than by the packet of the 8th ult., and that of the 1st is not yet arrived. Supposing no copy to have been received by anticipation, a month or six weeks must have elapsed after the arrival of the packet, before an American edition large enough—as the present is,—to meet the demand of the United States, could be prepared. Thus, owing to the liberal and skilful enterprise of the American publishers, we are in possession of Sir Walter's interesting labors, so much the earlier, and at a price considerably lower than that which is asked for them in Great Britain.® There were, of course, some faultfinders. One person had read in an article from the London Courier that the English edition of Scott's Life had been extensively changed by the author after the final proofs had been pulled. T h e reader, with obvious knowledge of the firm's methods, wrote a letter to the New York American asking if Carey, Lea & Carey had reprinted from an English copy that contained these corrections, or from proof sheets or manuscript copy that had not yet had the benefit of the author's emendations. On August 26, 1827, the papeT printed the following reply: A set of the cancels was received by the American publishers, and carefully compared with their edition; and the substance

44

Messrs. Carey ir Lea of Philadelphia

of the whole of them, is stated in the list of errata at the end of the third volume. They relate almost exclusively to errors in dates, and in no instance touch the opinions or views originally expressed. T h e bulk of these cancels is accounted for by the circumstances, that starting, as in one instance, with the year 1793, instead of 1792, as the era of a particular series of events, the error is repeated wherever allusion is made in the work to this era—and each repetition, to be corrected, requiring the cancelling of a whole leaf, or two pages: a few such errors, therefore, it will at once be seen, in a work of such extent, would require indeed "bales of cancels." T h i s explanation was apparently accepted as being satisfactory, for there appear to have been no more questions raised as to the accuracy of the American edition. Smaller publishing houses annoyed the firm. Less than a m o n t h after the appearance of Scott's Napoleon in Philadelphia, Collins & Hannay of New York were advertising an abridged edition of the work, which they claimed would be "preferable to the generality of readers, not being so voluminous as the original." 1 0 T h i s , of course, Collins & Hannay could do, since Scott's work could, under no guise, receive copyright protection in this country. Regardless of the appearance of this abridgment, the original work sold off very well. T h e publication of Scott's Napoleon had been a large project, costing the Carey firm over $ 2 0 , 0 0 0 to see through, but even despite this cost and despite the large payment to the author, the firm was able to clear over $13,000 profit on the title, 1 1 making the year 1827 the most profitable the firm had yet seen. 1 2 T h e following year, 1828, was a good normal one for

Supremacy

45

Carey, Lea & Carey. As mentioned earlier, an important event was the adding of Washington Irving to their group of writers. Little else of note took place. Business held steady. The firm had published fifty-two new titles in each of the two years, 1826 and 1827. In 1828 it published fiftythree. None of the new titles published in the latter year was either a great success or a remarkable failure. Waverley novels continued to flow from the pen of Scott who had, in 1827, removed his mask of anonymity and acknowledged their authorship. In the course of the year 1828 Carey, Lea & Carey reprinted some of the works of two good contemporary English essayists. On April 21, appeared the American edition of Leigh Hunt's Lord Byron and Some of His Contemporaries. T h e 1,000 copies printed sold off well, but the book's appearance in this country appears to have caused none of the furor of scandal that attended its publication in Europe. Henry had for many years been instructing his London agent, John Miller, to remit copies of new Hunt titles, but during the period Hunt had not written many books, and Miller had been able to send only one thing. 18 In 1822 he had sent over a copy of the first issue of the ill-fated Liberal; Verse and Prose from the South, written and edited by the "Unholy Alliance of Pisa," Hunt, Byron, and Shelley. Carey had immediately announced a reprinting as being in press in Philadelphia. 14 Two days later, however, the project had been given up, and the copy was forwarded to Arden in New York to be sold to any publisher who might wish to handle it. 15 Apparently the work

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Philadelphia

never was reprinted in this country. At any rate, the 1828 edition of Hunt's Lord Byron was the only Hunt item ever to appear with the firm's imprint. T h e other English essayist to have his works appear over the Carey, Lea & Carey imprint in 1828 was Charles Lamb. On March 19, the publishers sent to press the essays of Elia, which they had gathered from the London Magazine. The work was published in 500 copies on April 1. T h e essays sold better than had been expected, and a second series, as well as a second edition of the first series, was published two months later.16 This was the first appearance of Lamb's Essays of Elia in book form. They were not so collected and published in England until five years later.17 T h e firm tried an interesting experiment in 1828. In that year it issued the first number of what was probably the only foreign language literary annual ever to appear in the United States.18 On October 1 was published a 1,500-copy edition of El Aguinaldo. An unnamed editor was paid $400 for putting the work together. Since none of the articles was signed by other authors and since the firm lists no other payments for authorship, the editor may have written the original articles himself, as well as translated other articles into Spanish. Indeed many of the articles were translated directly from the Atlantic Souvenirwhence came also all the plates. By these means costs were kept very low for an illustrated annual. The work apparently sold well, because the following year the second and last number was issued in an increased edition of 2,500 copies. It was also in 1828, in mid-January, that the Carey, Lea

Supremacy

47

& Carey office was visited by Dr. Francis Lieber, an event that was to lead the firm into one of its largest, most profitable, and most important ventures. Dr. Lieber was t h e n twenty-seven years of age a n d had arrived in the U n i t e d States f r o m Germany a year earlier to direct a gymnasium in Boston. H e had been w o u n d e d in the battle of Waterloo, had fought in the Greek war for independence, a n d h a d befriended the G e r m a n historian N i e b u h r . H e was later to become professor of law at Columbia University. Dr. Lieber had several literary projects to propose to Carey, Lea & Carey. H e would like to edit a fashionable souvenir a l b u m for them, or prepare a Latin dictionary. T h e firm was n o t interested. It was already p u b l i s h i n g souvenir albums a n d Latin dictionaries. But Dr. L i e b e r would also set to work translating into English for t h e m t h e m o n u m e n t a l Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon that h a d been completed in Germany in 1808. 19 T h i s last suggestion caught Henry's fancy. It would b e a n expensive work to publish, b u t it would probably sell. H e offered Lieber a flat fee, o u t of which Lieber should pay his own assistants and hire any writers or translators he might need. Lieber r e t u r n e d to Boston a n d fell to work, and the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Americana, in thirteen volumes, appeared with the firm's imp r i n t between 1829 and 1833. T h e Encyclopaedia will be discussed in m o r e detail later. Perhaps the most i m p o r t a n t development of the year 1829 was a change in the organization and ownership of t h e firm. O n N o v e m b e r 1 Edward L. Carey withdrew f r o m t h e partnership, 2 0 allied himself with a young Philadelp h i a stationer n a m e d A b r a h a m H a r t , a n d took over the

48

Messrs. Carey & Lea of Philadelphia

firm's retail book business. E. L. Carey 8c A. Hart remained in the same building with the senior firm, on the southeast corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets, 21 where they soon began publishing over their own imprint. Carey and Hart continued in partnership until Edward's death on J u n e 16, 1845. His name, however, was not dropped from the imprint until September 10, 1849. 2 2 His was, incidentally, the last Carey name to be used in an imprint. Meanwhile the publishing and wholesale book business were retained by Henry and Isaac. T h e y did not again call themselves H. C. Carey & I. Lea as they had done earlier, but rather simply Carey & Lea. T h e i r office was next to Carey and Hart, the first door south of Chestnut on Fourth. 2 3 Although Carey and Hart have been referred to in the past as a "rival firm," such was never the case. T h e two firms co-operated very closely. T h i s study will devote no more discussion to the Carey and Hart firm. 1829 was an excellent year for Carey & Lea. T h e firm's Cost Book estimates the receipts for the year as follows: 24 Books printed in 1829 Sheet stock sold N. O. & C. Store Forget-me-not Stationery Nicklin Pheney 8c M. Lea Sundries

RECEIPTS

PROFIT

$88,500 17,120 24,000 18,000 7,500 3,250 13,000

$30,346 1,930 6,000 5,000 1,720

1,000

30,000 $202,370

6,000

$51,026 [sic]

Supremacy

49

Nicholas Biddle figured in the firm's business of 1830, causing it to bring out its largest edition of the season. Albert Gallatin, the statesman, diplomat, and financier, had written a long, provocative article for the American Quarterly Review on the American currency and banking system. 25 T h i s was the period of Andrew Jackson's attacks upon the Second Bank of the United States of which Nicholas Biddle was head. Gallatin's article supported Biddle's position, and Biddle felt the article might well be reprinted and pushed into much wider circulation. H e approached Carey 8c Lea to find how much it would cost to have this done. T h e publishers pointed out that: . . . the printer [of the Review] not having type enough to keep it standing, has been obliged to distribute the first forms, & as to print a large quantity would wear out the letter, we shall be obliged to have the whole stereotyped, which will require a few days.26 Nevertheless they could probably sell them for 250 to 300 each. T h i s was apparently satisfactory to Biddle, because on February 9, 1831, the firm issued Gallatin's Considerations on the Currency and Banking System of the United States in the huge edition of 11,000 copies. Biddle paid for the whole edition and had the work distributed free. Mathew Carey, fearing that his son's firm may well have overextended itself, frequently advised Henry to curtail his publishing activities and sell off some of his enormous stock. Although Henry had consistently ignored this suggestion, it is probable that his father's opinion had at least kept him from expanding the business as he felt he

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s h o u l d . W h e n t h e firm ceased p u b l i s h i n g law books in 1829, h o w e v e r , H e n r y n o t e d that t h e sale of law books i m m e d i a t e l y d r o p p e d very low; t h a t it was t h e n e w stock t h a t c o m p r i s e d , to a very large e x t e n t , t h e firm's sales. H e l a t e r e x p l a i n e d to his f a t h e r : In 1829 we ceased to buy or publish confining ourselves to closing the concern, 8c in that year the whole proceeds of sales were $6973—while the interest a m o u n t e d to $4009. Such is uniformly the case 8c were we now to cease to p r i n t I am satisfied that our sales in the next 12 months would not be $25,000 if even $ 2 0 0 0 0 , 8c the next period of 1 2 months they would not be $5000. T h e r e is n o t h i n g on earth worse than an old stock of books. 27 O n a n o t h e r occasion H e n r y p o i n t e d o u t t h a t "fivesixths of t h e w h o l e sales a r e of books m a n u f a c t u r e d w i t h i n t h e y e a r . " 28 I t was in 1831 t h a t this r e a l i z a t i o n h a d its greatest effect u p o n t h e b u s i n e s s of t h e f i r m . T h e firm b e g a n c u t t i n g back o n its p u b l i s h i n g of stock books—of titles t h a t it w o u l d take m a n y years t o sell off—and b e g a n p u b l i s h i n g m a n y m o r e p o p u l a r books, novels a n d r o m a n c e s , biogr a p h i e s , b o o k s of travel, a n d even s o m e school books. W h e r e a s in 1830, t h i r t y - n i n e titles a p p e a r e d w i t h t h e firm's i m p r i n t , in 1831 t h e n u m b e r was i n c r e a s e d to sixty-four. T h e r e was also a n o t a b l e increase in t h e sizes of editions. W h e r e a s t h e a v e r a g e n o v e l of 1826 was issued in 500 to 750 copies, in t h e 1830's this was i n c r e a s e d to f r o m 1,000 to 1,500 o r even 2,000 copies. D u r i n g this t i m e C a r e y 8c L e a seem f o r t h e first t i m e to h a v e b e c o m e i n t e r e s t e d i n t h e p u b l i s h i n g of school books.

Supremacy

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In 1832 they purchased for $850 2 9 the copyrights to Antoine Bolmar's books of French instruction 3 0 which they then published for many years. In 1832 the firm published the set, National School Manual, by M. R . Bartlett. Henry, however, disavowed any intent of handling school books extensively: We have not the slightest means of selling School B o o k s It is true we publish those of Bolmar & have recently printed a little book that may possibly be considered a School book, Lessons on Things, 3 1 but we depend entirely on the author to make demand for them. We could no more do it than we could stop the sun in his course. If you knew the activities of the Yankees, who provide School Books for the Union, you w*1 see that it is impossible to get a book into circulation without great exertion. Griggs 3 2 has the power to do it, but hardly any other person here, & even he is obliged for years to furnish School Books in exchange to get them into use. We have no means of doing it. 33 Nevertheless the firm did, in 1832 and 1833, print all the school textbooks in mathematics by J o h n R . Young. In July, 1832, a cholera epidemic struck Philadelphia. With almost macabre promptness the firm began issuing a serial entitled the Cholera Gazette, edited by a society of physicians led by Dr. Isaac Hays. T h e Gazette was published weekly, and a total of sixteen numbers appeared between July 11 and November 21, when the epidemic was considered over. During the peak of the epidemic, in August and September, when sixty to seventy persons per day were dying of cholera in Philadelphia alone, the Gazette was avidly read. In addition to chronicling the news of the epidemic, the Gazette printed scholarly arti-

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Philadelphia

cles on the disease, its treatment, causes, the susceptibility to it of various racial groups, historical accounts of other epidemics, etc. Since the firm was, at that time, the country's leading publisher of medical books, it should not be surprising that the Cholera Gazette was well received. Indeed it was so popular that Henry wrote to James Fenimore Cooper on July 13, " T h e people now read only the Cholera Gazette." 34 Undoubtedly Henry had got the idea for the Gazette from a similar publication with the same title which had been published in London during the epidemic there in January through April, 1832. Business improved in 1832. In December Henry could report to his father that " T h e business this year has been better than it ever was before." 35 In fact the whole middle period of Henry's incumbency as senior partner in the firm had been a good period. As indicated above, however, it was not until 1831 that he had given the business its head, allowing it to run as it pleased. Henry had to rein it in only once again between this time and his retirement six years later. Meanwhile, on December 31, 1832, another era ended, for on that date the imprint Carey 8c Lea went out of existence.

4 . The Drive to Retirement 1, 1833,1 a new partner was taken into the firm. William A. Blanchard had entered Mathew Carey's service in 1812,2 and had worked faithfully with the concern ever since. Very little is known of Blanchard, what his early obligations to the firm entailed, or what his work included after he became a partner. In 1822 Blanchard was earning only seven dollars weekly,3 and in 1831 he was still earning less than $2,500 per annum.4 It is not known what his income became following January 1, 1833, when the imprint was changed to Carey, Lea & Blanchard. N JANUARY

O

The new partnership, however, allowed more freedom to Henry and Isaac. Henry now bought a home in Burlington, New Jersey, and he spent considerable time there, often appearing at the office as seldom as once a week. T h e firm's correspondence also indicates that Isaac now spent much time at "the shore," where he was able to pursue his lifelong interest in conchology. Both men began doing more writing. Isaac's first book was published in 1833, Henry's in 1835.5 Nevertheless, despite the time he spent on his other interests, Henry was always available when the firm needed a decision. He continued to run it with a strong hand. One of the first experiments of the new firm was a particularly ill-fated one. On June 29, 1833, Carey, Lea & Blanchard announced the appearance of the Bibliotheque choisie de litterature frangaise, a periodical that was to be issued semimonthly, each number to contain at least sixty 53

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pages, and which was to sell for six dollars per year. The editor, R. E. Griffith, M.D., who was to receive §300 per annum, 6 was "fully aware of the necessity of caution in the selection of Books for publication, and it will be his study to avoid all those that a father might hesitate to place in the hands of his daughter." 7 The first two numbers of the Bibliotheque contained the new historical novel, Les ecorcheurs, by the Vicomte d'Arlincourt. Later numbers contained works by de Vigny, the elder Dumas, Monnier, Chateaubriand, and others. T h e periodical went through nineteen numbers before it quietly merged with La revue jrangaise at the end of June, 1834.8 Henry had to write the editor asking if he would be willing to settle for $250 for the uncompleted year's work. After all, he pointed out, "It is only a question how much we shd all lose." 9 Records do not indicate Dr. Griffith's reply, but the firm never again published a foreign language work. Jane Austen, the celebrated English novelist, had seen her works published in England in the 1810's. They were of a sufficiently different stamp, however, so that American publishers had been reticent to gamble on their success in this country. None of her works was reprinted in the United States until August 15, 1832, when Carey & Lea timidly issued a 750-copy edition of Elizabeth Bennett; or, Pride and Prejudice. T o the publishers' surprise the work sold off very well, and they immediately put to press Persuasion, which appeared November 6, and Mansfield Park, which appeared December 1, both in editions of 1,250 copies. In 1833, Carey, Lea & Blanchard published the rest of Austen's novels, all in editions of 1,250

The Drive to

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55

copies, which, although n o t a large n u m b e r , was a respectably sized edition, and one obviously larger than the publishers had orginally anticipated would sell. 10 A national crisis had a considerable effect on the firm's operations d u r i n g this period. A n d r e w Jackson's order that public f u n d s be removed f r o m the Bank of the United States ;vas dated S e p t e m b e r 26, 1833. T h e influence of the o r d e r was n o t felt immediately, b u t it began to become clear by the end of the year that the country's finances were in for some radical rearranging. T h e bankruptcy, in February, 1834, of Collins & H a n n a y , booksellers of New York, m a d e an indelible impression u p o n the booktrade. 1 1 Mathew Carey, whose faith in banks was a "fair-weather" faith, was noticeably j a r r e d by Collins & Hannay's fate. Henry's words were in p a r t reassuring: Matters are not so bad as you suppose. We must get some money, but I believe I have made the arrangement for it. In so doing it will be necessary for you to unite with us, but there is time enough, as we shall not need it for a few days. You shall not sell houses or carriage, nor shall you even feel the loss of any comfort or convenience that you have had. T h e times make economy necessary 8c I have commenced it 8c I must get you to be as moderate in your demands in these times as possible. 12 Carey, Lea & Blanchard h a d e x t e n d e d considerable credit to Collins & H a n n a y , a n d they lost m u c h money by their failure, b u t it was only the beginning. O n e by one, other booksellers a r o u n d the n a t i o n went i n t o bankruptcy, a n d it was an u n u s u a l bookseller indeed whose ledgers did n o t indicate a balance d u e to the Philadelphia house. In J u n e H e n r y wrote to his L o n d o n agent that business

56

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. . . is really in a terrible state. T h e monster at the head of our government ought to have a mad shirt put upon him & be sent to the hospital. If he were not deranged he ought to be hanged. His mad experiment has cost us $20 or $30,000. God knows how it will cost us.13 A m a j o r problem for the firm was not only losing money in bankrupted firms, but also fearing that other firms were rapidly going bankrupt. T h e supplying of books was done, to a very large extent, upon credit. Henry found it a difficult matter to determine which booksellers should receive credit and which should not, anticipating as it were impending bankruptcy announcements. It was well into September before Henry could write to Miller that business was beginning to return to a state of normalcy and that the firm was once again looking with interest for new books to publish. 1 4 Carey, Lea & Blanchard had virtually ceased publishing. During the twelve-month period between J u l y 1, 1833, and J u n e 30, 1834, the S r m announced as being in press no less than seventy titles that it never completed publishing. 1 5 Only a handful of new titles appeared with the firm's imprint during the first half of the year, and 1834's total, as compared with eightyfour in 1833 and ninety-four in 1835, was a mere forty. It had been many years since the firm had published so few books. I n a letter to Charles S. Stewart, author and naval officer, Henry summarized the sad state that the business had gone through: Instead of publishing at least two books per week as we had usually done, We have not this year pubd more than half a dozen, except those which were put to press last year. . . .

The Drive to

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57

We paid 50 pounds for an early copy of a work which we rec0 six months since 8c it is only within a short time that we have put it to press.—Even now we do not feel disposed to print anything except for the purpose of enabling some of our printers who have been getting into our debt during this long interval to get out of it. Business is reviving but a long time must elapse before it can be again on its old footing. Very many of the principle Booksellers have failed & others are in trouble, so that even when people are disposed to purchase, it is a difficult matter in many cases to find a Bookseller worthy of credit to whom you can send books for Sale. It is difficult to imagine a more complete frustration than has taken place in the Bookselling business.18 New American novelists were joining the firm's atelier throughout this period, giving a strong indication of the firm's reputation for supremacy in the trade. Among these authors were J o h n P. Kennedy, Robert Montgomery Bird, and Ralph Ingersoll Lockwood. T h e firm's relations with Kennedy and Bird will be discussed later. Lockwood's works never attained much popularity, a n d the firm apparently published them strictly on a commission basis. 17 His first novel, Rosine Laval, was published anonymously in 1833 and was attributed by some critics to Kennedy. 1 8 It did not sell, however, and the balance of the 1,500-copy edition was p u t to auction at the spring T r a d e Sale in 1835. P u t t i n g the title out of print in this m a n n e r left the a u t h o r $82.72 in the firm's debt. Meanwhile Lockwood had written another novel, The Insurgents, which the firm had published on the same basis, b u t it Avas not selling well either, and the firm had to inform the author that

58

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Carey

ir Lea of

Philadelphia

"we fear the sale of 'the Insurgents' will not lessen our claim on you" for the $82.72.19 During this period the firm's publishing emphasis was placed on novels and romances. T h e largest number of novels published by the firm in any single year during the first decade of its existence was seventeen in 1828. Suddenly, in 1833, the number jumped to thirty-six. Although the number dropped to sixteen again in 1834, by 1835 it was back up to thirty-six and, in 1836, to fortythree. There was little exaggeration in Henry's report to Miller that "Between ourselves, C[arey] 8c Hart, & Harpers the country has been deluged with novels." 20 T h e Harper firm of New York had been established in 1817 and had grown very rapidly. By the mid-1830's it had become so large that, for the first time in Henry's publishing career, his firm's supremacy in the general publishing field was being seriously challenged. T h e period of crisis was not yet, however. T i m e after time Harpers would challenge the Philadelphia firm, Henry would accept, and Harpers would back down. It was not until the 1840's, following Henry's retirement, that Harpers were to capitalize upon their more advantageous geographical location and their frequently ingenious enterprise. In that later decade they were able to wrest supremacy from Carey, Lea & Blanchard's successor, and to move America's publishing center from Philadelphia to New York, where it has remained to this day. In the 1830's Harpers' rapidly growing activities were merely "a thorn in the flesh" to Henry. He respected his challengers as he had respected no other firms, but he would tolerate no impertinences, and Harpers knew it.

The Drive

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59

T h e largest edition published by Carey, Lea & Blanchard in the year 1835 appeared in January when a new author was added to the firm's growing list. Miss Fanny Kemble, "sweetheart of the English stage," had come to America in 1832 and, after successful stage appearances here, had married a southern planter. She had kept a journal of her first year in this country, and it promised to be a bestseller. Carey, Lea & Blanchard bought the work for $2,200 and published it in 8,000 copies, an edition larger than Cooper, Irving, or often Scott himself would warrant. T h e r e was considerable public interest in the Journal's impending publication. Word-of-mouth publicity preceded the book into the Philadelphia markets: Some wag of Philadelphia created quite a sensation in that city, on Tuesday, by announcing that Miss Kemble's Journal was published and ready for delivery. The bookstores and circulating libraries were crowded. The Last Days of Pompeii, Rokeby, and Mrs. Jameson's beauties, were all thrown aside for the new volume, which, it is understood, will contain a nice little dish of scandal. 21 T h i s kind of publicity, however, has never yet impaired the sale of a book. Neither, on the other hand, has the sale of a book often been harmed by the kind of publicity that heralded the work into Boston. I n that city a copyright violation threatened for a time to bring court action. Certain select passages from Miss Kemble's (then Mrs. Butler's) Journal began appearing from time to time in the columns of the Boston Transcript. Finally, on January 3, 1835, Henry wrote to its editor:

60

Messrs. Carey & Lea of Philadelphia

We have seen several extracts from Mrs. Butler's Journal purporting to have been taken from the Transcript. Are you aware that the sheets that appear to be in your hands are stolen? or are you aware that the republication of any part of it without our permission is not only a violation of courtesy but of copyright? We shd be glad you wd inform us from whom you rec*1 the sheets in your possession in order that we might have a clue to the scoundrel who stole them.22 T h e Transcript pleaded innocent of any wrong intentions or wrongdoing but refused to relinquish information regarding the source of its copy. Meanwhile the regular edition of the Journal was published and, with its advance publicity, was very successful. Carey, Lea & Blanchard dropped the matter of the copyright violation. Carey & Lea had, in 1832, sold the title of the Atlantic Souvenir to S. G. Goodrich, a New York publisher, who merged it with his Token,23 but they never forgot the handsome profits they had reaped from the publication of the annual. In 1834 they tried to break again into the rapidly expanding market for annuals by issuing the Geographical Annual for 1834, which was in reality a second edition of the Family Cabinet Atlas that they had published two years earlier. T h e press lavished encomiums u p o n the Geographical Annual: This indeed is a splendid specimen of the art of engraving; an Atlas for the most elegant boudoir. Here is "the greatest quantity of geographical information in the smallest possible compass," in a form not less ornamental than useful. The workmanship of this small volume is unique; there are distinct maps of every country, and between forty and fifty

The Drive to Retirement

61

thousand places are specified, twenty thousand with the latitudes and longitudes affixed.24 Despite this kind of praise, however, sales were not particularly noteworthy. Since the firm did the work with engraved plates already on hand from the earlier edition, the cost of issuing the annual was low. Also in 1833 the firm issued The Premium; a Present for All Seasons, which, although not actually an annual, was an attempt to capitalize on the "annual" tradition. The Premium was comprised of selections from contemporary English and American authors. Two thousand copies were printed in 1833, and the work was reissued without change in 1835, 1836, and 1851. Among the more unusual of American annuals was one issued by the firm in 1836 and 1837 with the title, The Parlour Scrap Book. Willis G. Clark was paid $150 for editing the first number, and Mrs. E. F. Eilet received a like amount for the poetry used. T h e whole number, both literary material and plates, concerned India. T h e sixteen plates in the 1836 volume were designed in England by W. Daniell and were purchased by Carey, Lea & Blanchard for $880; 25 5,000 copies were printed to retail at $3.25 each. Apparently the work sold fairly well, because a second number, this time in only 3,000 copies, was published the following year. T h e second number had no unity of material as had its predecessor, and the only indications of authorship are two unidentified sets of initials, C.H.W., and T.C. This was the last attempt by the firm to issue a literary annual. In 1837 the firm made what was to that time the largest

62

Messrs. Carey ό- Lea of

Philadelphia

recorded payment to an English author by an American publisher. In that year Carey, Lea & Blanchard began issuing John Gibson Lockhart's Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott in parts, a project that continued well into the following year. Later in 1838 they also issued the work in a two-volume edition. T h e firm's Cost Book lists, with the expenses of issuing the first volume, a payment to Lockhart of £ 3 0 0 or $l,500. 2 e No doubt this sum was the author's payment for the whole work rather than for one volume. Henry was probably anxious to pay off the copy costs with the sale of the first volume in order to lessen interest upon the sum and thus increase profits on the whole work. T h e sum paid to Lockhart, it will be noted, was £ 5 more than had been paid to Scott just ten years earlier for his Life of Napoleon. By 1838 Henry had already been actively engaged in the bookselling business for at least thirty-six years, and he was tired of it. As early as 1829 he had written to his father, "so sick am I of bookselling that if I could now command what if invested at 5 percent would give me 4000 dollars, I wd I think never sell another book." 27 His interests in the mid-1830's turned rapidly toward political economy, in which field he was yet to build the reputation for which he is chiefly remembered today. His first writing in that field was published over the Carey, Lea & Blanchard imprint in 1835. In 1837 began appearing his monumental Principles of Political Economy, a work that was completed in 1840. It is interesting to note that none of the three titles written by Henry and published by the firm are entered in the firm's Cost Book, a fact which indicates that Henry apparently considered their publica-

The Drive to

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63

tion to be private financial ventures and not ones on which to risk his partners' capital. On October 1, 1838,28 the following announcement, signed by the three partners, was posted in the Philadelphia newspapers: The Co-partnership heretofore subsisting between the subscribers is this day dissolved. The business will be continued by Isaac Lea and William A. Blanchard, who are duly authorized to settle all accounts of the late concern.29 So ended an era, an era in which Carey & Lea ruled the Philadelphia booktrade, and Philadelphia was the literary center of the United States. Henry had taken over the firm when publishing, as such, was just beginning and had built it into a modern concern. The market value of all the books published in the city of Philadelphia in the year 1822 was $110,000.30 Eight years later the firm of Carey & Lea alone published books with a market value of over $150,000.31 T h e national supremacy of the Philadelphia house was not long maintained after Henry's retirement, however. It may well be that Henry himself would not have been able to compete in the 1840's with the growing advantages of the geographical location of New York, but it is certain that Isaac, who headed the succeeding firm, was not able to do it. Harpers had been challenging and continued to do so. Isaac neither knew how to accept the challenges nor was he interested in doing so. With Henry's retirement ended a kind of second generation of the American booktrade, a transition generation that marked the change from the colonial printer-publisher to the modern publishing house.

Part Two The Firm's Place in the Booktrade

5 . Publishing American Authors N THE opening years of the nineteenth century books by foreign authors were not protected by copyright in the United States. Consequently American publishers found it cheaper to reprint works by foreign authors than to buy and print works by natives. Furthermore, English authors were having their reputations developed in this country, at no cost to American publishers, through the British reviews. Blackwoods, The Edinburgh Review, The Quarterly Review, The London Magazine, and others were well known and widely read among the American literati, and they did much to spread the fame of contemporary British writers. These two factors—the lack of international copyright and the popularity of British reviews —made it well-nigh impossible for an unknown American author to get his works into print.

I

By the 1820's, however, the situation was beginning to change, but the change came gradually. English authors and publishers, in the late teens and early twenties, had begun selling early sheets of promising new works to American houses, thus pushing up the cost of reprinting them in this country. The American houses soon saw that by paying a native author the amount they would otherwise be required to pay for advance sheets, they could issue a work that would receive copyright protection. Furthermore, by the 1820's American reviews, capable of developing a native author's reputation, were also becoming 67

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Messrs. Carey ir Lea of Philadelphia

available in increasing numbers. The North American Review, the Port Folio, and Carey's own American Quarterly Review did much to make the publication of native authors profitable for American houses. In 1820 the American public was strongly nationalistic. T h e American Capitol had been burned by British troops only six years before, and anti-British feeling was still strong. T h e American reading public was anxious to read works written by its countrymen, feeling that in doing so it was contributing to the establishment of America's identity as a cultured, literate nation. The British attitude, which was best expressed by the London reviewer's question, "Who reads an American book?" goaded the United States into a near-chauvinistic stand as regards its literature. Despite this desire of Americans to patronize their countrymen, however, publishers had consistently found it unprofitable, for the reasons outlined above, to issue creative works by American authors until about 1820. T h e necessity of paying authors and the necessity of extensive advertising pushed the retail price of an American novel to such a high point that, even in a patriotic American market, it could not compete with a cheaply reprinted foreign title. In other words, the problem was that, although Americans had wanted to read works by native authors, they had been unwilling to pay for them. Booksellers sometimes misinterpreted this reticence to pay more for a native book as a reticence to read works by native authors. T h u s it was that a "noted Philadelphia bookseller" explained to Mrs. Anne Royall in 1824 that "American works do not pay the expense of publishing,

Publishing

American

Authors

69

owing to the rage of the American people for foreign productions." 1 Henry Carey, however, felt in 1822 that the publication of American works could be made profitable, and he was anxious to try to develop a group of native authors. H e found this less difficult to do in fields other than creative literature, and he began early to publish books by American authors in such fields as medicine, law, travel, and science. As early as 1824, the National Gazette had pointed out that: "of seventeen new works, which Messrs. Carey and Lea have in press and announce, eleven are American; which shews a remarkable increase of the n u m b e r of domestic productions in literature and science." 2 T h e problem of inequities in the production costs of foreign a n d American titles continued to loom large, however, a n d the public was very price-conscious. A rather spirited advertisement that was printed in 1828 by Philadelphia's Arcade Book Store points u p the situation very well: The new novel—the Red Rover, By Cooper. What's the price says one calling at the Arcade Book Store—Answer $1.50. Is not that very high—Answer we cannot help it. "You sell Canongate for 50 cents, which is quite as large a book and by a much greater author."—Answer, Canongate is not a copyright book—Mr. Cooper is a native American and the most successful imitator of (till lately) "the great unknown of the North." 3 H a d the proprietor of the Arcade Book Store b u t known, he might have added that Carey & Lea, who had published b o t h works, had paid only $250 for copy of Scott's Canon-

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Philadelphia

gate whereas they h a d to pay $5,000 for Cooper's Red Rover* T h e m a j o r swing to p u b l i s h i n g American authors in the field of belles-lettres, however, did n o t come until the mid-1830's. T h e Booksellers' Advertiser pointed out that whereas only ten A m e r i c a n novels were p r i n t e d in 1834, thirty-one a p p e a r e d in 1835. 5 Carey, Lea & Blanchard alone p u b l i s h e d eighteen of these thirty-one. I n that year, in the n a t i o n as a whole, the n u m b e r of books p u b l i s h e d that had been written by A m e r i c a n authors o u t n u m b e r e d those by foreign authors in every field of endeavor except fiction (which lost o u t by a very small margin), poetry, and history. T h e s e figures are b o r n e o u t by the estimates of Samuel G. Goodrich. H e calculated that of the books p r i n t e d in the U n i t e d States in 1820, 30 per cent were by American authors; in 1830, 40 per cent, a n d in 1840, 55 p e r cent were written by Americans.® T h e statistics on page 71, c o m p a r i n g the total of A m e r i c a n p u b l i s h i n g for 1835 with Carey, Lea & Blanchard's o u t p u t for the same year, were adapted f r o m the Booksellers' Advertiser,7 By the 1830's m a n y A m e r i c a n authors were e a r n i n g their whole livelihoods with their pens. T h e p u b l i c was not aware, however, of the large payments that some of these authors were receiving for their labors. A brief article on the subject, p r o b a b l y " p l a n t e d " by Carey, Lea & Carey, had a p p e a r e d in the newspapers in 1829. T h e article p o i n t e d o u t that Carey, Lea & Carey . . . were the first to offer and pay a regular compensation for articles in a Medical Journal;—they have allowed for lighter articles for their Atlantic Souvenir, sums with which the con·

Publishing

American

Authors

71 C L & B'S

SUBJECT

AMERICAN

Biography Travel History Law Medicine Theology, Philosophy Fiction Poetry and Drama Textbooks, Juveniles Science, Mechanics Commerce, Economics Miscellaneous Totals

19

12 4 9 6 35 31 7 88 15 9 34

FOREIGN

TOTAL

OUTPUT

11 11 8 3 5 35 33 12 32 8 2 10

30 23

12 12 11 70 64 19 120 23 11 44

5 8 8 0 11 4 36 2 5 7 3 5

439

94

tributors have professed to be well satisfied:—in the course of last year they disbursed to authors and editors more than twenty thousand dollars; and in the present, they will have to exceed that amount, for the same purpose, by eight or ten thousand.8 It was the last statement of the article that caught the public eye, and readers were amazed that any publishing house would pay as much as $20,000 for literary services in one year. A month later the statement gained national circulation by being quoted in Niles Weekly Register.e Several years later, in 1833, the firm circulated the information that it had paid $30,000 for literary services in one year. This was more than the public was willing to accept without question, and the statement was publicly attacked. Henry wrote a letter of explanation to the Philadelphia Inquirer:

72

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