A Brief Account of the Educational Publishing Business in the United States — John Shaqi
A Brief Account of the Educational Publishing Business in the United StatesPulsifer, William Edmond
History
A Brief Account of the Educational Publishing Business in the United States
Pulsifer, William Edmond
Publishers and publishing -- United States; Textbooks -- United States
LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY, INC.--This business began as a retail store
started by Ebenezer Battelle in Boston in 1784. Four years later the
concern issued its first book and became a publisher in the strict
sense of the word. From 1784 to 1913 there was a succession of partners
entering and leaving the organization, and in the early days the name
of the house was changed frequently, according to the changes in
partnership. The name of Little & Brown was adopted in 1830, when James
Brown and Charles C. Little owned the business. James Brown may more
truly be called the founder of the present house than any other one
man. In 1898 Little, Brown & Company absorbed the successful publishing
firm of Roberts Brothers of Boston, thereby securing a large
miscellaneous line, including the works of Louisa Alcott. In 1913 the
house was incorporated as Little, Brown & Company, Inc., without change
in the personnel of the organization.
The present educational enterprise of this company was started in
May, 1904, and the first two schoolbooks of the present list were a
school edition of _The Man Without a Country_, and the series known
as the _Wide Awake Readers_. Little, Brown & Company are known as the
publishers of Bancroft’s _History of the United States_, also of Daniel
Webster’s works.
BENZIGER BROTHERS.--This firm was founded in 1792 in Einsiedeln,
Switzerland, by Joseph Charles Benziger. In 1883, he was succeeded by
his sons, Charles and Nicholas Benziger.
In 1853, the New York house was founded. J. N. Adelrich Benziger, a
son of Charles, and Louis, a son of Nicholas, took charge of the New
York house. The American firm is now entirely independent of its parent
house in Switzerland. In 1860 a branch house was opened in Cincinnati,
Ohio. In 1880, Nicholas C. Benziger became a partner. His father,
Nicholas, was a partner in Einsiedeln, and was the son of Nicholas
mentioned above. In 1887, a branch house was opened in Chicago. In
1894, Louis G. Benziger, son of Louis, became a partner, retiring in
1914. In 1912 Xavier N. Benziger, and in 1919 Bernard A. Benziger, both
sons of Nicholas C., became partners.
This firm has been publishing schoolbooks since 1860. From 1874 to 1877
the _Gilmour Readers_ were published. _The Catholic National Readers_
were brought out in the years 1889-1894. _The New Century Catholic
Readers_ were issued from 1903 to 1905. The house has also published
a _History of the United States_ in two volumes, an _Elementary
Geography_, _Advanced Geography_, and two series of Arithmetics.
The present partners of the firm are Nicholas C. Benziger and his sons,
Xavier N. and Bernard A. Benziger.
BENJ. H. SANBORN & CO.--Mr. Young, the present President of this
organization, writes:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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