  james thomas fields (december 31, 1817 &ndash; april 24, 1881) was an american publisher, editor, and poet. ==biography== ===early life and family=== he was born in portsmouth, new hampshire on december 31, 1817 and named james field; the family later added the "s".tryon, warren s. parnassus corner: a life of james t. fields, publisher to the victorians. cambridge, massachusetts: houghton mifflin company, 1963: 1. his father was a sea captain and died before fields was three.miller, edwin haviland. salem is my dwelling place: a life of nathaniel hawthorne. iowa city: university of iowa press, 1991: 281. isbn 0-87745-332-2 he and his brother were raised by their mother and her siblings, their aunt mary and uncle george.tryon, warren s. parnassus corner: a life of james t. fields, publisher to the victorians. cambridge, massachusetts: houghton mifflin company, 1963: 6. at the age of 14, fields took a job at the old corner bookstore in boston as an apprentice to publishers carter and hendee.sedgwick, ellery. history of the atlantic monthly, 1856â1909: yankee humanism at high tide and ebb. amherst, ma: university of massachusetts press, 1994: 70. isbn 978-1-55849-793-1 his first published poetry was included in the portsmouth journal in 1837 but he drew more attention when, on september 13, 1838, he delivered his "anniversary poem" to the boston mercantile library association.winship, michael. american literary publishing in the mid-nineteenth century: the business of ticknor and fields. cambridge university press, 2003: 20. isbn 978-0-521-52666-1 ===publishing career===  in 1839, he joined william ticknor and became junior partner in the publishing and bookselling firm known after 1846 as ticknor and fields, and after 1868 as fields, osgood & company. ticknor oversaw the business side of the firm, while fields was its literary expert. he became known for being likable, for his ability to find creative talent, and for his ability to promote authors and win their loyalty.mcfarland, philip. hawthorne in concord. new york: grove press, 2004: 192. isbn 0-8021-1776-7 with this company, fields became the publisher of leading contemporary american writers, with whom he was on terms of close personal friendship. he wa
1817_births 1881_deaths 19th-century_American_people 19th-century_American_poets 19th-century_journalists American_book_publishers_(people) American_essayists American_magazine_editors American_magazine_publishers_(people) Burials_at_Mount_Auburn_Cemetery People_from_Boston,_Massachusetts The_Atlantic_(magazine)_people