The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-07-03

r-per,s-T1e Old and ne Nsl1 EstablisLmsTts-
The CONFERENCE.-The Etit0rs' Stnets1a-I'sr-
,o1nei If Hs VIgazinS anil Weekly EltOrS-
I. Dorfor@ (iserpsslt-LsaTy ~ Akisn- H0t1
I5srahtrp is B0,tght and Sold - An Inside
Glimpse Of JftgIziRe JfrBGyeBlent-G- W. Curtis
srad JYm A. Ssdrer-IiO15 10 Write for TIE YrJd-
NEW YoEx, April 10, 1860.
&Thc Harper's establishments does not print any
bre or any better books than some other pub
hing firms, which do at least as large n busi-
~. But more books and newspaper articles
re- been written about it than about any
- Err publishing house in the country. Almost
ybody has heard Of James and John Harpcr's
~ beginning in Dover street. fifty-two years
-, and Of the rapid growth OF their business.
eir establishment in Pearl and Cliff streets
- destroyed by fire in December, 1853, when
onel, machinery and buildings, valued at a mil
~ Of dollars, were swept by the blaze Of an
- from the face Of the earth. The fire origin
~ In the press room, where plumber. having
~ lighted n Iamp. threw the burning piece Of
49, which he had used into what he supposed
o c. pan Of water, instead Of water it was cam
- j. for cleaning the press rollers; and the
y De- establishment was in blaze in a few min
= IVc never heard what became OF him-whether,
= Erostratus, "a the ambitious youth that fired
III Ephcsian dome,', he suffered official penalties
i his act, or whether he frctted himself to death
'r the accident. But the Harpers did not
bry; they set to work and built the present
Fueture OF brick and iron, covering ten city lots
half an acre Of grOund-and five stories high, /
.,.I H. = Ity frf.I
fooE. Brt Of what advantages is it to build an
|on warehouse If you instantly I'LL it with paper?
be- Harpers have not made their books hre-proof-
heir risk Of fire, however, is lessened by the fact
bat they never issue incendiary publications
|It the iron building Is hardly less dangerous,
hen packed full Of combustible materials. than
wooden structure. Our New York frcmen
", indeed, that iron buildings fall in sooner,
n eonflngration, than wooden ones The metal
bitens and collap-es before wooden beams burn
trough.
Th. t!ctails OF the business OF this great essab-
hment have been often described-the opera
ons OF the composing room, the electrotyper's
pom, the press room, the mechanism Of - dry
pg,r % pressing '' folding" and 80 finishing"
nd the labors Of the five hundred persons Zone
ird Of them women,l who are employed in these
fEerent processes. But there is one part which
not been & lily reported It is the editors
|netum- Let Us enter it together.
Entering the main door from Pearl street, we
- through thn great sales room, with its end
J. book shelves, and ascend two flights of spiral
bn staircasc-or take, it you choose, the steam
Der, which will deliver us like any other literary
reels at the proper landing. BY devious and
|sty passage-y- We pass the art department.,
lcrc the engra ers are working upon the illus
,tions Of the Magazine for three or four months
end We ghnce through another door upon two
" young lndies who occupy themselves ail day
~ with The scissors. Not, however, in dones-
work-though it is an affair OF shreds and
tehes that concerns them IL is their business
read newspapers by the hundrcd-wcight, and
clip from them all paragraphs, stories or
etehes. for which the editors of the Magazine,
c Ba=ar, and the Weekly ean be supposed to
We any use.
Near by arc the editorial rooms, the door Of
ieh stands open; we enter spacious, dusty
ern Of an apartment, numbered up with paste
=, wrapping paper, proof sheets, manuscripts,
tilatcd books and journals, and provided with
fnall library Of books of reference, q few ency-
Rpecins and standard works, in number sufh-
Fnt for the needs Of American erudition. The
bee Is the very palace of eobwebs- Two gentle
in OF studious appearance SIT at their desks in
Posite corners OF the room, turning their backs
ward each other in u Diogenic manner They
pc o. ''r- -er1ry dust and debris upon them,
miller re pouiered with the dust OF their
'ador- Thy e reading manuscript with
it --,la -1 y1. "a serocious voracity, and you
hr. .cr presume to be fed upon re-
80 conn u
A.1. editors, however. appears ut
-naut The elder gentleman
P rJnpliments Of the day 1t
1r senior editor of HarPrs
o aired man Of about fifty-fyc
rs, Ikasfve, and full Of literary