The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-04-11
A MAMMOTH BOOK FACTORY.

/ n
THE NEW ESTABLISHMENT 9F APPLETON & co.
THE GREATEST PUBLISHING CONCERN IN THE
WORLD.
Among the great commercial names of the
world, probably not one has become more
frequent "household word than that Of Ap-
pleton & Co., of New York. There is scarcely
a family in the United Stats, student, or
school boy, whose library-whether consisting
Of stately works of science and art; Of poetry,
romance, history or travel Of classic lore, fairy
tales or the illustrated melodies Of Mother
Goose; or of the humber Webster's Spelling
Book, Cornelrs Biographies, Quackenboss'
Arithmetics, and Harkness Grammars-isn not
written all over with the familiar imprint of
appleton"
Thirty years ago the firm occupied portion
of building in what is now known as the
lower end of New York. Ten years later in
creasing business drove them into what was
then regarded as the largest and most superb
bookstore in the metropolis. 1t was still
"down town." The beginning Of another de-
cade. and the constant cry Of the reading pub
lie for ssmore," compelled q third move this
time into vast and capacious premises, n
SURPRISING in elegance those which ",
vacated. A great, factory was also erected !
square, and rivalling in the magnitude OF its
| operations any similar establishment in the
| world.
Such, however, has been the progress of the
age, the increase of general intelligence, the
growth of the people, and the appetite for
popular works, that fourth anG still greater
change has been required. This time it has
taken the shape Of an immense book factory"
! embracing more than million Of cubic feet.
The new establishment is located in Brooklyn,
near the Naval Hospital, covers the four sides
of q square, and, With it's great tower-hke
structures, it's mighty gates Of oak and iron,
and general castellatsd appearance, no stretch
of the imagination is needed to recognize
similitude to some OF the feuda strongholds
Of Europe.
Some idea of the capacity of ;he establish
| ment and the variety of operations which en-
gage the labors Of it's hundredsof busy work.
ers may be gathered from the statement OF
few facts.
The first apartment to which the visitor is
introduced is known as the white STOCK
ROOM" where thousands Of reams are piled
awaiting their turn to be transformed into
books. Beyond this is long stretch Of vaults,
dark as the catacombs, where ten thousand
boxes Of stereotyped plates are labelled and
slowed away, ready, at moments notice, for
some extra edition Of popular book. Great
names are inscribed on some OF these parcels,
but great names do not always cell.
Directly over the stock room is room for
pressing and imparting to paper the smooth
and glossy surface with which all our readers
are familiar. This is done BY means of five
powerful hydraulic presses. Adjoining this Is
the wetting room, where the paper is damp
eped BY machinery previous to it's transfer TO
the press department. Here, nineteen presses,
adapted to every variety Of work, make the
noisy music of the place. In moving among
cannot help noticing the bright looking girls
who stand beside each Of the presses Like
keeper beside an elephant, and feed its rave
nous NAV continually.
When printed, the damp sheets are borne to
the drying room, where temperature OF
seventy degrees is preserved by steam pipes.
A little drawbridge connects the ,pressrooml
trundles over it the last thousand of Muhl-
bach, Dickens or Webster. You enter an
apartment SO long that, in the perspective. it
seems to dwindle to q point. Soft throbs OF
machinery greet the ear. They are the .pulsa-
tions Of q score or more OF steam .aOiaerS, ,,
which perform their YORK Win q speeu anu
accuracy unattainable by human hands. One
hundred and seventy-fve girls are here en-
ployed, feeding, stitching and preparing the
incipient volumes for the sturdier hands OF
man. On this floor, also, is room full Of ex-
ouisite prints for the illustrated works Of the
house.
Up stairs by steam elevator. You see
steam chopping machine which turns out
three thousand covers an hour Of any size. In
the next room are hundred men stamping,
cutting, case-making and forwarding. Three
thousand "Encyclopedias," six thousand
''Marie Antoinettes, ten thousand Cooper
fields" and twenty thousand of Appletons'
s'School Series," can be delivered from this de-
partment daily.
To the third floor, where are conducted the
finer processes of gliding, marblinS and hnlsh-
ing. This is, par excellence, the artists atelier.
Not less than $4,000 worth Of gold leaf al
consumed here annually. Working in cobwebs
or the down OF butterflies could scarcely be
more difficult.
Another and the last fight, by the elevator,
lands the passenger on the fourth floor, the
main pat OF which is devoted to packing Spel,
lers. Cornels Biographies, Quackenboss'
Arithmetics. Hardness Grammars, and the
other popular school-books Of the house
About fifteen thousand Spoilers are here boxed.
and sent forth daily. At the beginning OF the
wear, the demand for these Spoilers poured IN
so thick and fast from all parts OF the country
particularly the South), that the Appletons
were half million copies IN arrears but, by
steady pulling, night and day, they have have
with dispatch. This, packing-room IS one OF
the busiest places in the factory. ,Seventty-fve
men are here employed. In an adjacent room
is O curious machine. 1t is photographic
press, doing the same work as well by steam
as it usee-tU be done by hand. and great
deal faster. On this press the maps for Apple
tons Series Of Biographies are printed;
~ l. NJ 10htnlnO.
In other words, q private electric telegraph
connects the Brooklyn factory with the New
York wholesale house and counting room, so
that the thought Of one minute at one Place
may be instantly put in process OF execution III
the other.
AS whole, it may be confidently asserted
that the premises above described are without
a superior OF their kind in the world, :,
word more concerning the APpletons anu
we are done-and it is a word that should COM
mend them TO the people at large, and espec!-
cally to the parents and teachers OF the South.
While other book publishers have pandered
to the radical tastes OF the multitude, and have
flooded the South with school books and otner
publications as poisonous to the mind OF youth
as the Upas tree to the BODY, the Appietonis
have carefully ignored every word or sent
ment that could add to the weight OF insult
and misfortune which we have had to endure.
So-called "school histories" are even now IN
circulation in the South which describe JEFF.
Davis" as the greatest ,'feIon" O. modern
times, and are filed with talsehood from cover
to cover Spelling books with pictures OF auc-
ton b, ,ocks and burning negroes keep alive the
embers OF the war; and thousands OF these
iniquitous publications food the country and
seek an introduction into our schools. NO sucn
books have ever emanated from the house. OF
Appleton. On the contrary, their school serles
and their classical series for colleges ana acao-
emies have been prepared and overlooked oy