First book issued under Harper name: Seneca's Morals.

Joseph Harper was born in Suffolk, England. Married a Dutch girl, Elizabeth Kolyer. They were strong, active Methodists, morally upright, tee-totallers. Son James, in 1810, befriended Abraham Paul, partner in the Paul and Thomas New York printing company.

Paul received an order from bookseller Everty Duyckinch for an English translation of Seneca's Morals. James Harper, with his brother John, did the actual printing work and issued the book under the imprint of J & J Harper. (But technically, because Duyckinch had paid for the book, the Harper brothers were the printers, not the publishers.)

The first book to issued by the Harper brothers as publishers was John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1818). They took advance orders, and for an order of 100 copies or more the bookseller's name was printed on the title page.

In 1820, the brothers issued Scott's Waverly.

In 1824, they had a list of five titles in print.

1825, younger brothers Wesley & Fletcher joined the firm. Fletcher was generally seen as the most skilled and was named first Editor-in-Chief at Harper. Fletcher Harper established "Harper's Weekly" and "Harper's Bizarre". He issued a 2-volume set of Charlotte A. Eaton's Rome in the Nineteenth Century. This was the first book in America published with cloth (purple muslin) over boards.

Harper issued the first Library series in America: 1830, Harper's Family Library. Later, Library of Select Novels.

1831. Boy's & Girl's Library. Classical Library.

1833. Company name officially changed to HARPER & BROTHERS.

1841. Harper's School District Library was issued after the New York legislature established a fund for the establishment of libraries in public schools.

In 1842, Harper pirated Charles Dicken's American Notes and the following year, his Martin Chuzzlewit. To avoid incriminating booksellers, Harper sold the pirated books on street corners through hawkers. (NOTE: Henry Carey Company had the American rights to Dickens. Carey became Lea & Blanchard, then sold rights to T.B. Peterson & Brothers of Philadelphia. Peterson asked Harper to produce the plates, with a promise of a share of the profits. In 1867 Harper paid Dickens $29,000 for all rights and went to court to stop Peterson and others from issuing Dickens in their name. Dickens, however, tired of the American feud, switched his loyalty to Ticknor & Fields after meeting and winning the friendship of James Fields. Harper countered by threatening to sue Dickens, who, to smooth ruffled feathers, promised his next book, Mystery of Edwin Drood, to Harper. This angered Ticknor and Fields who sued Harper. Finally, a compromised was reached: Harper would serialize the novel in its magazine, and after it had run Ticknor and Fields would issue the first edition---1870---in book form. Dickens died, which helped end the decades long feud. Until Appleton Co. re-ignited the feud by publishing "complete works of Dickens". Harper answered by publishing the 16-volume "Household Edition" of Dickens.

1848. Published Carlyle's Reminisces. This ignited fight with Scribner's which claimed all rights to Carlyle. In fact, the manuscript had been edited by Scribner's editor before Harper published it. In 1853 a major fire wiped out their warehouse and nearly ruined them. The brothers travelled around the world seeking writers. They obtained contracts for the American Editions of the works of Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Dinah Maria Murlock, whose John Halifax, Gentleman was Harper's first big best-seller (1856). She provided the next best-seller as well, Little Lame Prince.

1859. George Eliot Adam Bede, led to long association between author & Harpers.

1862. Harper's Pictorial History of the Great Rebellion.

1865. Best-seller The Story of the Great March, by Colonel George Ward Nicholas, aide to Sherman. By the end of the Civil War, Harper's was the leading publishing house in America, and quite possibly in the world.

1865. Editor Charles Nordhoff turned down the rights to the American edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, one of the big errors of publishing judgment. (NOTE: Macmillan, in England, issued 1st printing of Alice in Wonderland, but Lewis Carroll complained about poor quality, so Macmillan withdrew it from the market. In America, Appleton used the Macmillan plates to do an "American Edition" without Carroll's approval. The first American edition to be "authorized" was issued in 1869 by Lee & Shepard.)

1869. James Harper died in 1869 in a freak accident when his spooked horses overturned his carriage. (Mayor of New York?) 1870. Joseph Wesley Harper died after a life of sickness. He worked basically as a reader of manuscripts. 1874. John Harper had a stroke that left him unable to work. He died the following year.

1874. Feud erupted with their best-seller author Dinah Maria Murlock. She continually protested how her name was to be spelled, even what her name was. Sometimes she demanded her maiden name on the title page, sometimes her married name, sometimes combinations of the two, and sometimes demanded no name at all on the title page. Harper tried to accommodate her wishes, but libraries complained. To this day there is controversy identifying all of Murlock's pen-names.

Same year a feud between Harper and Henry Holt began over rights to the works of Thomas Hardy. To muddle matters, Harper published Return of the Native with Holt's imprint on the title page. Eventually, all rights went to Harper. Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure created censorship controversies, but Harper, having won rights to them only after the long feud, stood behind the books.

1877. Fletcher Harper, the "brains" in the publishing family, died. The business was divided among the sons: Fletcher Jr., headed the magazines. Joseph Harper Jr., John W. Harper, son of John, was named editor-in-chief. He was the first college graduate in the family. Philip Harper, son of James, was named head of the company. (Note: Philip married the sister of his father's second wife, hence becoming the brother-in-law of his own father.) Abner Harper, the second son of John.

James Osgood (see 1870) published William Dean Howell's books, but when Osgood failed, Harper picked up the rights.

Mark Twain gave Harper Pudd'nhead Wilson after American Publishing Co. had issued it for sale by subscription. American sued, but Twain backed Harper and authorized a "New Library Edition" of his works. American countered by issuing an unauthorized "Complete Works" of Twain.

Harper, perhaps as a result of all these feuds and lawsuits, became a leader in the movement for an International Copyright Law. President Hayes suggested Fletcher Harper Jr. draft the legislation, which congress finally passed in 1891. It was known popularly as "The Harper Treaty".

1890. Fletcher Harper Jr. died.

1890. Harper sold its textbook division to American Book Co.

1893. The Panic of 1893 hurt Harper badly. They had published Ben Hur despite having reservations about it. When it did so well, Harper ignored the advice of editors and paid (1896) $10,000 a year for ten years (the most ever paid to that date) for rights to Wallace's next book The Prince of India, which turned out to be a colossal failure. 1896, to avoid bankruptcy, Harper borrowed money from J.P.Morgan & Co., which took control of the firm, thus ending the family's control.

Morgan brought in some heavy hitters: S.S. McClure was named President. Nelson Doubleday, a partner of McClure in their own publishing venture, took sole control of Doubleday, McClure while his partner tried to right Harper. John S. Phillips was named head of operations. Walter Hines Page was named head of book-publishing. He would soon start his own firm, and later join Nelson Doubleday. John Finley, editor of "Harper's Weekly".

But the debt was too large, and the organization established by Morgan too complex. McClure surrendered in November 1899 and resigned. This broke up the team: two weeks later Doubleday dissolved his partnership with McClure and entered a new one with Walter Hines Page. (See Doubleday, Page).

Colonel George B. Harvey was placed in charge of Harper's. He had a good track record as head of Harvey Syndicate, developers of Electric Rail Lines in New York and Cuba. He was no stranger to publishing; he owned the famous "North American Review". But he quickly recognized the impossibilities of getting Harper out of debt and the following month, December 1899, filed bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy sent authors fleeing. Some of those who left Harper to go to other publishers: Henry James, Owen Wister, Ellen Glasgow, John Fox Jr., Robert Chambers, Joseph Conrad.

Colonel Harvey, however, did mourn the loss. He went out and found new literary talent: James Branch Cabell, Theodore Drieser, and Zane Grey. (Ironically, earlier Harper had rejected Grey's first book, Betty Zane.) Riders of the Purple Sage, Light of the Western Stars, among others became huge best-sellers for Harvey's Harpers.

1913. J.P. Morgan wanted faster results, so he convinced Harvey to sell "Harper's Weekly" to S.S. McClure, who was now operating his publishing firm sans Doubleday. (McClure sold it to "The Independent" in 1916, which sold it back to Harper's in 1922.)

In 1915, Morgan forced Harvey to resign. He named the treasurer, C.T. Brainard to head the firm. This was a radical change, because whereas the Colonel had been elegant, exciting, and sophisticated, Brainard was sloppy, dirty, a penny-pincer with a foul mouth. This move caused a second major exodus of authors: Sinclair Lewis, Cabell, Conrad, and Dreiser.

Brainard issued: The Encyclopedia of U.S. History Biblical Encyclopedia in 12 volumes Comedies of Shakespeare in 4 volumes Illustrated editions of Dickens & Thackeray The 25 volume "Hillcrest" edition of Twain Centennial of Seneca's Morals with a facsimile of the original Harper book on the left and new type and lay-out on the right page. Harper Centennial, 1817 to 1917.

Brainard also created the "Bubble Books" written by Ralph Mayhew and Burgess Johnson and illustrated by Rhoda Chase. These were a tie-in with Columbia Records that recorded the books to music. First issued in 1917, there were 18 books in the series. This was the first major and most innovative series aimed at children.

History of the American People by Woodrow Wilson.

1919. After the Great War Brainard had few best sellers. The most successful titles were: 1921, Now It Can Be Told by Sir Philip Gribbs, and 1922-3 The Mind in the Making by James Harvey Robinson.

1922. Brainard made a major error with the publication of the multi-volume Harper's Wonder Book of the World War. This failure caused vice-presidents Thomas B. Wells and Henry Hoyns to attempt an overthrow of the much disliked Brainard. Wells suggested to J.P. Morgan: (1.) Sell the subscription book business. (Morgan agreed, and sold it to P.F. Collier & Sons for $100,000.) (2.) Give all proceeds from motion picture rights for Ben Hur to Morgan to reduce the debt to him. (He accepted over $200,000.) (3.) Transfer Franklin Square properties, where the headquarters for Harpers stood, to Morgan. (Morgan agreed only in part. He subtracted the value of the property from the debt but then leased the property to Harper so it would not have to move. So while reducing the debt, he tightened cash flow.) (4.) Sell all machinery, printing presses, everything, then contract for services. (Morgan sold the equipment to International Textbook Co. in Scranton, Pa. for $135,000.) (5.) Fire Brainard, make Hoyns president. (Morgan refused.)

Hoyns promoted specialty divisions: in 1919 he founded the textbook division (hired Fred Crofts from Century), in 1925 he established a business division (headed by Ordway, hired from McGraw-Hill), in 1926 he organized a children's book division (headed by Virginia Kirkus, perhaps the first woman to head a major publishing division), and the same year, a religious book division (Walter Lewis). Morgan fired Brainard in 1924 and turned the company over to Harry Fisher, who named Cass Canfield as Executive Editor. Canfield immediately went to work to restore Harper's stable of writers. He picked up Julian Huxley, J.B. Priestley, Harold Laski, Richard Hughes, George Bernard Shaw, (his aggressive style, however, angered Shaw, who soon went elsewhere), and James Thurber and E.B. White, who collaborated on "Is Sex Funny?" Canfield's biggest error was turning away Lloyd Douglas, whose book "Thirsty Fish" would be renamed by another publisher as "Magnificent Obsession" and become one of the biggest sellers of the decade.

Canfield hired Eugene F. Saxton as editor-in-chief. Saxton promoted the Harper Prize Novel Contest (First winner, Margaret Wilson, The Able McLauglins.)

These were the "Big Three" at Harper's, Hoyns, Canfield, and Saxton.

Hoyns continued to promote his specialty divisions. Kirkus developed a working relationship with schools and libraries for her children's book division. She created the "City" and "Country" series. Issued the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder. She was followed by Ursula Nordstrom. Hoyns purchased the inventory of Sunday School Times Co. of Philadelphia for his religious book division. When George Doran Co. merged with Doubleday, Doran sold their religious books to Richard P. Smith, who sold them to Harper's in 1932 during the Great Depression. This proved to be a beneficial purchase for Hoyns, who re-issued Alex Carrel's best-selling Man the Unknown. Hoyns published rights to Teilhard, Schweitzer, Tillich, Bonhoeffer, Barth. In 1935 he purchased for Harper the firm of Paul Hoeber, publisher of medical books, and established a medical book division.

1939. Hoyns named President of Harpers.

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Henry Oscar Houghton owned Riverside Press in Cambridge, then the leading printer in America. The Riverside Press, whose motto was "Do it well or not at all", printed both Webster's Unabridge Dictionary and Worcester's Dictionary. Highly unusual, not only because rivals were using him, but because most large print jobs were still being exported to London at half the cost. Such was Houghton's reputation as a printer.

In Boston, his publishing house was H.O. Houghton & Co. His principle out-put was two magazines, "London Society" and "The Riverside Magazine for Young People", edited by Horace Elisha Scudder. Scudder introduced to Houghton the leading children's authors of the day, Hans Christian Anderson, Sarah Orne Jewett, Kate Wiggins. The famous "Riverside Bulletin" was issued by Scudder.

In New York, Houghton formed a partnership with Melancthon Hurd and operated as HURD & HOUGHTON. Their most important work was the publication of the Globe Edition of the works of Dickens.

In 1868 Hurd and Houghton purchased "The Journal of American Social Sciences". With the journal came Francis Jackson Garrison, son of William Lloyd Garrison. In 1872 George Harrison Mifflin became a partner for $15,000 after working several years in the press factory. For all practical purposes, from this time on, the publishing house was actually run by the triad of Scudder, Mifflin and Garrison.

In 1872 they signed John Burroughs, who remained faithful to the publisher until his death in 1921.

In December 1883, Hurd & Houghton purchased two magazines from James R. Osgood, "Atlantic Monthly" and "Every Saturday", plus the plates and rights to Osgood's "British Poets" series.

In 1878 they purchased what was left of Osgood's firm and took the name HOUGHTON, OSGOOD & CO. But Osgood's debts were staggering, so the company was dissolved May 1880 and re-established as HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. Osgood reneged on the deal and started another firm. He took with him much of the Houghton list, including Mark Twain.

Still, Houghton managed to acquire what most think was America's most distinguished list of titles and authors. By 1923, it may also have been the largest.

The famous "Riverside Literature Series" of paperbound books revolutionized publishing by proving there was a market for paperbacks.

Houghton died in 1895. Mifflin took charge.

In 1905 Edward Rittenhouse Houghton headed the firm. In 1908 he incorporated as Houghton Mifflin Co. (no punctuation).

Mifflin died in 1921 and William Spaulding took over.

Partnership of Henry Holt, recently out of Yale Law School and Frederick Leypoldt, a German immigrant who had been doing an occassional publishing job while earning a living as a bookseller. Holt invested $11,000, Leypoldt his talents.

First book: Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing. (Some sources cite Holt's translation of The Man with the Broken Ear as the first.)

Published quality editions of various European authors. George Sand, Heinrich Heine, Thackeray, Kingsley, and others. But big money maker for them was their exclusive American rightrs to reprints of "Tauchnitz Collection of British Authors". Another money-maker was their textbook line, especially the books on foreign language, many of which were written by Leypoldt. By 1875, their editions were being used by Harvard and Yale.

In 1871, Ralph Williams, classmate of Holt, was added as a partner and the name was changed to LEYPOLDT, HOLT & WILLIAMS. But the following year(?) Leypoldt retired to publish the "Literary Bulletin and Trade Circular", which eventually became "Publisher's Weekly". Named changed to HOLT & WILLIAMS.

Holt launched the "Leisure Hour Series" of high quality novels. He introduced Turgenev to American readers.

Launched "American Science Series", after Appleton's success with its "International Scientific Series".

Williams retired in 1873, and company name was changed to HENRY HOLT & CO. In 1878, his brother Charles joined the firm.

Published John Stuart Mill's Autobiography, and followed that with a 13 volume set of Mill's works.

Introduced "Condensed Classics", edited by Rossiter Johnson. The first were Ivanhoe, Ourt Mutual Friend, and Last Days of Pompeii.

Sold subscription books with limited success.

In 1878 began negotiating with WIlliam James to publish his Psychology, but feuding and bickering between James and Holt delayed its publication until 1890. The two-volume work was too long, so Holt persuaded James to issue a "Jimmy" shortened version. A similar dispute with H.G. Wells after Holt published The Time Machine, drove Wells to another publisher.

In 1911, "Home University Library" in conjunction with British publisher Williams & Norgate.

Robert Frost's first work, North of Boston, was published in 1914 by David Nutt, a British publisher. The work attracted attention to poety Amy Lowell, who tried to get Holt editor Alfred Houghton to sign Frost for an American edition. Holt's wife, Florence, also saw it, and told Harcout to obtain the rights.

Alfred Harcourt, by now a virtual partner with the aging Holt, wanted to published the works of Bertrand Russell, but Holt angrily disagreed. A feud erupted and Harcourt quit, taking Donald Brace with him to found a new company. Other authors, including Sinclair Lewis, left Holt for Harcourt Brace.

To offset the heavy losses, Holt hired his old friend Robert Frost, who had refused to jump ship with Harcourt, to act as "literary advisor".

Harcourt was replaced at Holt by Lincoln MacVeigh. He brought to the firm such famous authors as Robert Benchley, Stephen Vincent Benet, A.E. Housman, Marcel Proust, and even Albert Einstein.

Under McVeigh's stewardship, Frost's New Hampshire won the Pulitzer Prize. MacVeigh left the firm in 1923.

MacVeigh was replaced by Elliott Hook, who became infamous for his collosal errors of judgment. He rejected, among others, Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain, and he sold the rights to Proust to competitor Thomas Seltzer.

The firm was reorganized in 1928, when the Holt sons were kicked out and employees purchased the firm.

Frost's new editor at Holt was R.H. Thornton. Under his guidance, Frost's Collected Poems won a second Pulitizer Prize in 1930.

Thomas D. Hurst, and electrotyper.

Clothbound twelvemo books.

The Argyle Press.

Published the pirated Britannica 1886 for Henry G. Allen Co.

"Cameo Editions" advertised as "all the Best Works of the Great Poets". Reached 21 volumes by 1880. Each book, 250-500 pages, sold for 30 cents. He claimed they were "tastefully printed and bound int he best English cloth"...but in fact they were printed on cheap pulp paper in ugly bindings.

Hurst was the worst of the cheap reprinters.

"Nassau Editions"...Each book 400-800 pages, also sold for 30 cents...titles included Robinson Crusoe, Arabian Nights, Pilgrim's Progress.

"Arlington Editions"...his best books...300 bound volumes...twelvemo...sold for $1.00 each but they were discounted in the stores. Described by one critic as "beautiful covers around deplorable paper."

1890, Hurst sold out to Lovell...but like others who sold to Lovell, when Lovell failed, he resumed publishing.

1902, Hurst entered deal to have his books distributed by Reilly and Lee.

1908 purchased titles of the bankrupt A.C. Gunther Publishing Co.

While working as a columnist for the New York "Sun", Ben Huebsch worked in his brother Daniel's printshop. In 1900 they printed Grigg's New Humanism.

He did virtually all the work himself, from type-setting to binding to design.

Huebsch published works of Gelett Burgess and Will Irwin.

In 1912, he hired Charles B. Galls to design books; Falls designed the famous Huebsch colophon 7-branched candlestick.

Introduced James Joyce to American readers when he published Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

D. H. Lawrence's poetry.

Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio.

1920, published the socialist magazine, "The Freeman", with features by H.L. Mencken.

Huebsch was "First Jew" in American publishing (???)

His authors frequently ran into censorship problems but unlike other publishers, Huebsch stood behind them and fought in the courts. This generated loyalty and attracted more controversial authors.

His experiences in court led him to be one of the founding members of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Believed each book had to have a genuine reason for existing Books spoke for themselves, good books did not require extravegent advertizing.

Merged in 1925 with Harold K. Ginzburg to create VIKING PRESS.

Daniel Collamore Heath, a high school principal, world traveler searching for the meaning of life, usually in poor health, took a job as a salesman for Ginn. He was so successful Ginn offered him a partnership and the firm's name was changed to Ginn, Heath & Co.

In 1885, he left Ginn to start his own fimr with 24 titles he purchased from Ginn. Traveled to Europe to add other titles. Another Ginn salesman, William Edmond Pulsifer was his partner from 1895.

Sold textbooks overseas, to Japan, China, Philippines, Latin-America.

"Modern Language Series" with famous authors, such as John Dewey, G. Stanley Hall.

Archibald Clavering Gunter authored a successful play, Prince Karl. He followed this up with a poorly written, trashy novel, Mr. Barnes of New York. Although considered "Railroad Literature", it became a huge world-wide best-seller.

Deciding not to share royalties with publishers, Gunter started his own publishing house to issue his own works. Using a standard formula, he quickly wrote several successful novels: Mr. Potter of Texas Baron Montez of Panama and even an self-parody of his writing style with Miss Nobody of Nowhere.

A New Orleans publisher in the shadow of the larger Clark & Hofeline.

Specialized in textbooks, and law books, most written by local authorities and intended for use only in Louisiana.

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