New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-24
der of their founding:

representative. The names are given ID the VI
der of their founding
M hodis, Book Concern s9g
William Wood Co .-....-.....'.- ISL
= Anpeton q Co Ca
D. Van Nostrand .....''......-' 1881
John Wiley 1856
S0"i putnsms sons lsss
A. = Barnes Go. 1899
Charles scrbner's Sons '''
The Methodist Book Concern, the Oldest New
York publishing house now extant, was star'eo
in 1889 by the Rev. John Dickens and hve years
later the firm Of William Wood 90. was
founded by Samuel Wood. grandfather vi
w H. S Wood, the present senior partner y. IN. tnv
house Then came Harper & Brothers, or1gihany
known as j. & J. Harper, the present s.yie y,
the Arm being adopted in 1873. James anu
John Harper the elder brothers, were soiis " -,
Long Island schoolmaster, and were apprem ,,,er
to printer in New-York Iheir you .od
brothers Joseph Wesley and Fletcher, ehteIeu
their employ when the firm was fouhoeu' anu
later were made partners In us carry n.sUa .
the firm made strong feature Ji 1"e enS other
foreign publications and by putting an eA'l "o
binary number of printers and cofipos h "a
work placing an American ediIon vi, ,m. could
ket long before any of their competitors cou'"
dc So
A LONG CAREER.
The Arm of d. Appleton & Co. was founded
eight years after the Harpers, by Daniel APP
,,a,on who forsook the drygoods business 10 go
into publishing.
Ivison g. Co. founded in 1881, were among
the nioneers in the schoolbook line
John wiley son of Charles Wiley, dld not
maintain any connection with the business OF
his father but started on his own account III
1893 as the agent of a Philadelphia house In
1880 he formed partnership with George Long
and four years later George Palmer Putnam De-
came a member of the firm. Mr. Putnam was
originally a clerk in bookshop In Ann-st ne
entered the firm with a cash capital of $3.50 and
from his salary and his venture has grown the
great publishing house of q. r. Putnam SONS
n was due largely to Mr. Putnams efforts thai
the first American Copyright Committee Wa
organized. in 1887. and until his death, in lS'2
ne was one of the foremost to defend the rghts
of American publishers and authors.
The firm of A. S. Barnes Il Co.. founded II
1898. soon gained standing as publishers o.
school books. The founding of Dodd Mead q
Go comes a year later in the chronology OF tn'
publishing business, and lovers of fine books are
well aware that they have kept pace with the
rest
ORIGIN OF THE SCRIBNER FIRM.
Charles Scribner was the son Of Congrega
tional clergyman, and was graduated from
Princeton where he studied law In 1916 NJ
went into the publishing business with Isaac ID
Baker Andrew c. Armstrong, who was at tina
time In the firms employ, became a partner o
MI Scribner some years later. After the deati
of his father in 1871, Charles Scribner, jr, be
came the head Of the firm.
The most recent of the great publishing houses
The Century Company, has taken an importan
place in the world ofsbooks and magazines
II will thus be seen that the establishment o
the great publishing industry in New York i
an outcome Of little over hundred years. In
deed. old Dutch New York seemed to be ratne
more engrossed in its Holland gin than In DOCKS
and Cambridge, Mass, Philadelphia and Wiz
ginia' played an important part in the business
y in those early times.
New-York induced William Bradford to come t'
New-York He was thereupon given the titl'
Printer in Ordinary to Their Most Excellen
Majesties William and Queen Mary. His DOCKS
would hardly prove popular to-day. whatever
their virtue may then have been. They Dor'
such titles as Truth Advanced The New
England Spirit Of Persecution Transmitted Z
Pennsylyania" end Propositions Made by Five
Nations" These books. II they are "cavlare u
the general" are the less priced by col
iectors and bbiophes and now bring many
times their original value when onereo Ior SAFE
SOME EARLY PRINTERS.
John William Zenger was New York's secOnt
printer. and became apprentice TO Bradford
In ITO James Parker also All apprentice n
the same shop set up business OF his own II
1742 and added his share TO the reading matte
which helped to console the good old Colonia
folk on cold winter nights.
The rapid development OF the publishing bust
ness In New York is a cause for pride, not only
in New York hut In every city and town OF INT
. country for in this and In all other lines thu
metropolis IL the primary producing ana dastrip
ming centre While 1t IL undoubtedly true tina
In other cities some excellent publishing house