The morning call., 1893-07-28
THE HOUSE OF TICKNOR.

The failure of stock roker is matter
of small moment; such people 60 out on
tina warpath in search of other peoples
scalps, and when their own hangs at the
saddle bow they merely meet a natural
fate But the bankruptcy of great pub
clearinghouse which has been identified
with the development of sound taste and
pure letters is public calamity. That
the name of Ticknor should disappear
from the world Of books is indeed to be
regretted.
The house which suspended on Wednes-
day was founded sixty years ago by Will
liam Davis Ticknor, who must not be con-
founded with George Ticknor. the author
OF the History of Spanish Literature"
The two men were not related. and Will
liam wrote no books. cOnten ting himself
with publishing the books of others. He
attracted attention by being the first Amer
lean publisher to pay royalties to foreign
authors, notwithstap ding the absence OF
an international copyright law, and thus
acquired the respect of honorable men at
home and abroad. He was Tennsson's
first publisher in this country, and though
when he began business Sydney Smiths
sneer-''Who reads an American book Pr
was still opposite, he lived to build up at
Boston school of letters which eventually
included Emerson, Lowell, Holmes, Haw-
thorne and Longfellow. The house of
which he was the head reached its prime
in 1854, when its name was TicknOr &
Fields.
At the beginning Of the war it pur-
chased the atlantic Monthly and the
Norfb IN e,jcon Perjo,p and If acouired
so high reputation that authors all over
the country endeavored to secure it as
their Publisher. Mr.. James T. Fields was
a partner after Mr.. Ticknor's own heart.
Himself an author of no mean rank. he
was the cherished ally of authors in this
country and in England. He was the
bosom friend of Dickens and Thackeray.
His lberality to writer's was prOverbial;
indeed it was too lavish for the interests
of his house. His taste in typograI by
and book-making was unerring; the hand
soonest books which up to that time had
been issued from the American press bore
the imprint Of TicknOr & Fields. His
standard of elegance was so high that his
publications were often above the level
of the public at large; but among literary
men they took rank with the most finished
productions of the house of Didot In Paris
Authors looked upon 1icknor & Fields
as comrades. rather than business assO-
cIates. In the quaint old building on the
corner of Washington and School streets
which contained their printing house. the
visitor would see in an afternoon the
familiar faces of Longfellow, AgassiZ,
Whittier, Sumner. Lowell and the other
lights of the Cambridge galaxy. No one
was better equipped to form an intelligent
opinion OF a manuscript or to suggest
wise cancellations than James T. Fields.
The original Ticknor died about the close
of the war. Mr.. Fields retired twenty
years age and died in 1881. The firm was
then reorganized and became James r.
Osgood & Co.. but some four or five years
later younger members of the Ticknor
family bought into it and revived the
| name of Ticknor & Co. It is that house
which has just failed.
The misfortune Is serious one for Bos-
| ton. For some years Boston's claims to
be the intellectual center of the United
States have been declining. Only two or
three of the original Cambridge set sur
vive; no successors have appeared to the
| brilliant men who we're the leaders in
American thought thirty and forty years
ago. The North american Reuie,c mi
grated to New York some years ago. The
atlantic Monthly still lives. but rather in
a languishing condition. The original
members of the great publishing house of
Little, Brown & Co., the first American
publishers of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
are all dead the house is now conducted
by Mr.. Bartlett who is over 20, and is
content to carry on small business. One
by one all the props Of Boston's claim to
be the literary hub have given way; this
failure Of the Ticknors seems to complete
| the work of decay.
1t is the old story-to him who hath
shall be given. New York, which is the
financial and commercial center of the
country. is becoming the literary center as
well; attempts to resist the natural drift
Of concentration will only lead to disap-
pointment and vexation of spirit