Had we space--we have all the will--to be garrulous, we should
infallibly have commenced this chapter by a long account of John
Newberry, the celebrated publisher of children’s literature. His
books were distinguished by the originality and the homeliness of
their style, and were wonderfully adapted to the capacities of the
little readers to whom, in one instance, at all events, “The History
of Little Goody Two Shoes,” they were specially dedicated: “To all
young gentlemen and ladies who are good, or intend to be good, this
book is inscribed, by their old friend, Mr. John Newberry, in St.
Paul’s Churchyard.” Mr. John Newberry was himself, in many cases, the
author of these volumes, “price 2_d._, gilt,” which he produced; but
he was assisted by men who were distinguished in other walks of life,
especially by Mr. Griffith Jones, editor of the _London Chronicle_, the
_Daily Advertiser_, and the _Public Ledger_, and by Oliver Goldsmith,
who makes Dr. Primrose, when sick and penniless at an inn, pay a
hearty tribute to a traveller who had succoured him. “This person was
no other than the philanthropic bookseller in St. Paul’s Churchyard,
who had written so many little books for children: he called himself
their friend, but he was the friend of all mankind. He was no sooner
alighted but he was in haste to be gone, for he was ever on business
of the utmost importance, and was at that time actually compiling
materials for the history of one, Mr. Thomas Trip.” Newberry purchased
the copyright of the “Traveller” for twenty guineas, and eventually
offered a hundred guineas for the “Deserted Village,” which Goldsmith
wished to return when he found that he was receiving payment at the
rate of five shillings a line.
However historically interesting and bibliographically curious,
Newberry’s business, measured in bulk, was as a molehill to a mountain
when compared to the enormous trade carried on by the largest of our
modern publishers of juvenile literature--perhaps, also the largest
book-manufacturer in the world.
Thomas Nelson was born at Throsk, a few miles east of Stirling, in the
year 1780, and was brought up in the very bosom of that strong, stern,
unwavering religious faith, which has so often seemed the fitting
complement to the ruggedness of the Scotch character; and which, among
the other worldly advantages of its system of training, has often
prepared its votaries for a successful career in business. His father
led a quiet, retired life upon a small farm, not far from the famous
field of Bannockburn, and was so satisfied with the content of his
humble lot, that he repeatedly refused to take advantage of offered
opportunities of making money, by permitting a pottery to be erected
on his land. In those days, great gatherings of those known as the
Covenanters took place in many parts of Scotland, at the sacramental
seasons, and Nelson’s father thought but little of travelling forty
miles in order that he might enjoy the privilege of the communion
service. Upon the mind of the young lad, who often accompanied his
father, these meetings, all probably that varied the monotony of a
rustic life, made an indelible impression. When, like many youths
of his time who had their own paths to clear in the world’s jungle,
he resolved to leave Scotland and to seek his fortunes in the West
Indies, his father accompanied him on the road to Alloa, the place of
embarkation, and during the journey asked him, “Have you ever thought
that in the country to which you are going, you will be far away from
the means of grace?” “No, father,” replied the son, “I never thought of
that; and I won’t go.” And immediately the scheme was abandoned, and
they retraced their steps homewards.
When, however, he was about twenty years of age, young Nelson tore
himself from the parental roof, and went to London, and after passing
through all the difficulties that are so familiar to young lads who
have to fight their own battles unaided, he entered the service of a
publishing house--an event that determined, doubtless, the course of
his after-life. One of his early associates in business was Thomas
Kelly, and, like his friend, Nelson, while diligent and conscientious
in his daily duties, still found time for intellectual and religious
culture. With a few young Scotchmen, he established a weekly-fellowship
meeting, which was held every Sunday. One of the association was
employed at the dockyard, during Lord Melville’s administration at
the Admiralty, and lost his situation through his refusal to work
on Sundays. Lord Melville, however, who had often seen him in the
dockyard, enquired the cause of his absence, and on learning the
fact of his dismissal, severely rebuked the officials, and shortly
afterwards advanced him to a higher post.
In the latter years of Nelson’s residence in London, he was engaged in
obtaining orders for the Stratford Edition of “Henry’s Bible,” a work
issued in shilling parts, to be bound up in six large folio volumes,
which was held in high repute, and attained a large circulation. Nelson
secured the names of a great number of subscribers, chiefly in the
northern district of London.
After having thus received the necessary business training, and
acquired the necessary commercial experience, Nelson determined to
make a start upon his own account, and left London for Edinburgh.
Here at first he rented a small apartment, which he occupied as a
book-warehouse, stocked chiefly with second-hand books, and from this
little establishment he issued the “Scots Worthies,” and one or two
other works, in monthly parts. In a few years afterwards he removed
to the well-known small shop at the corner of the West Bow. Here he
commenced his cheap issues in 24mo., of such works as Baxter’s “Saints’
Rest,” Booth’s “Reign of Grace,” “Mac Ewan on the Types,” and some of
Willison’s works. Indeed, we have been told, epigrammatically, that
Nelson, in this little corner shop of the West Bow, commencing with a
humble reprint of “The Vicar of Wakefield,” arrived in time at the more
ponderous honour of “Josephus.” In his early publishing career, he and
Peter Brown, another bookseller engaged in the same line of business in
Edinburgh, were of considerable service to each other, for though they
were not in partnership, they contributed jointly to defray the cost
of composing and stereotyping a considerable number of octavo volumes,
comprising the works of Paley, Leighton, Romaine, Newton, and others.
Thus, half the cost of production was saved to each, while the stock
of each was doubled. These books were not at first sold through the
booksellers, but vacant shops were opened in the evenings in the large
towns, where single copies were sold by auction, and the same practice
was extended to smaller places, chiefly on the periodical recurrence
of the Scotch fairs. This innovation, of course, excited a strong
feeling of animosity among the trade, who, for some years, did their
best to thwart the sale of Nelson’s publications. Indeed, in 1829, when
Nelson, encouraged by the success of his auction sales, engaged Mr.
James Macdonald to travel Scotland regularly, his mission, owing to the
stigma attached to the auction business, was a failure. At Aberdeen the
booksellers rose up in arms, and only one bookseller, Mr. George King,
had the courage to give Macdonald an order.
Though opposed in the country, and though for many years he did not
accumulate much capital, yet, from his well-known and strict integrity,
Nelson never wanted funds to carry out his plans. At the very time that
Macdonald was suffering defeat in each country town, Nelson was enabled
to purchase from a printer, at a comparatively low price, “Macknight on
the Epistles,” in four volumes, octavo; and the popularity of that work
forced a quick sale throughout the trade, and gave his business a very
considerable impulse.
Nelson was still convinced that the only method of extending his
business to any considerable importance, was by means of a regular
system of travelling, and Macdonald was succeeded by Mr. Peters, whose
success was considerably greater; but it was not until Mr. William
Nelson, the eldest son of the founder, took to the road, that the trade
business was really consolidated, not only in Scotland, but also in
London and the chief towns of the united kingdom. In fact, it may be
said, that Mr. William Nelson was the real builder of the business,
working upwards from a foundation that was certainly narrow and
circumscribed. Mr. Thomas Nelson, the younger brother, was soon after
this admitted to the firm, and undertook the energetic superintendence
of the manufacturing department, and was the originator of the
extensive series of school-books.
Johnson of Liverpool used to narrate that he remembered young Nelson on
his first (English) journey, and that he gave him what Nelson called
a “braw order.” Shortly after this he was, according to the same
authority, joined by Mr. James Campbell, who left the carpenter’s bench
to become a “bagman,” and was soon the chief assistant in the firm’s
employ.[31]
Before this, however, the energy displayed by Mr. William Nelson had
thoroughly consolidated the business, and had entirely dissipated the
previous prejudice excited by the auction sales, the more especially
as the lowest prices were at once fixed to the trade upon every book
issued by the establishment. Mr. Campbell’s success as a commercial
man was considerable, and by his subsequent energy and integrity as an
agent, at home and in the colonies, the demand for Messrs. Nelson and
Sons’ books began to assume a considerable magnitude.
In 1843, the firm removed their place of business to Hope Park; we
shall refer to this establishment subsequently--and upon the death of
Peter Brown (he had for some years ceased to co-operate actively with
them), the stereotype plates which had been the joint property of both
firms, became by purchase the exclusive possessions of Messrs. Nelson,
and this gave them an advantage in the market they did not formerly
possess.
Even while in London, Nelson had collected the works of his favourite
divines for his private use, and he now carried out more thoroughly the
scheme, commenced in conjunction with Peter Brown, of publishing cheap
editions of such books that they might be brought within the easy reach
of thousands. Such cheap issues are now a common feature of the trade,
but he was one of the first Edinburgh booksellers to introduce the
new order of things. The series was very popular, but still it was by
the publication of juvenile literature that Nelson’s great commercial
success was achieved. The works of this special, and apparently
inexhaustible class were distinguished by a good moral tendency, purity
of diction, and elegance of production, and were laudably free from
sectarian bias, and extreme opinion. It will, perhaps, suffice our
present purpose to instance, among his many authors, R. M. Ballantyne,
as a favourite with his boyish, and A. L. O. E. with her girlish,
readers. One of Nelson’s periodicals attained a large circulation; this
was the _Family Treasury_, edited by Dr. Andrew Cameron, and numbering
among its contributors such writers as Dr. Guthrie, Dr. Vaughan, Dean
Trench, and Brownlow North; in its columns the charming “Chronicles of
the Schönberg Cotta Family” first appeared.
Among the greatest of the more recent triumphs of the firm in the way
of books for children, was the introduction of coloured illustrations
upon a black background--a striking and emphatic method of throwing the
coloured pictures into strong relief; the books illustrated upon this
principle proved so successful that a host of imitators adopted the
same method. The firm are also well known as extensive publishers of
a greatly improved series of schoolbooks, of maps, embracing new and
ingenious features, and of gift and prize books. Latterly, however,
they have entered into a wider and more liberal field, and their
current catalogue embraces works in most departments of literature.
For the last five-and-twenty years of his life, Nelson was more or less
of an invalid; though from 1843 to 1850 he enjoyed a kind of respite;
but during this whole period his sons were associated with him in
the business, and during the latter and greater portion of it, the
management devolved entirely upon them. Thomas Nelson, the founder,
died on March 23rd, 1861, and showed upon his death-bed the effects of
that strong piety to which, since a child, he had accustomed his mind.
When it was thought proper to announce to him that his end was near, he
received the intelligence with the calmest equanimity:--“I thought so;
my days are wholly in God’s hands. He doeth all things well. His will
be done!” and then he took up his Testament again, saying, “Now I must
finish my chapter.” He was buried in the Grange Cemetery, among many
Scottish worthies, and lies side by side with Hugh Miller.
Thomas Nelson was distinguished not only by his energy and strict
integrity, but by a generous hospitality of the genuine Scottish type.
Even when his business was of very small dimensions, his old-fashioned
dining-room was generally filled by the Scottish clergy, when any
general meeting brought them to the metropolis.
Messrs. William and Thomas Nelson, of course, continued the business,
and we cannot, perhaps, convey a better idea of the magnitude to which
the trade has in their hands extended than by giving a description of
their establishment in all its branches, and for this description we
are indebted chiefly to Mr. Bremner’s “Industries of Scotland.”
Taking printing, publishing, and bookbinding together, Thomas Nelson
and Sons, of Hope Park, are the most extensive house in Scotland. They
removed to their present establishment a quarter of a century ago, and
were compelled, after a lapse of ten years, to build a new range of
offices far exceeding anything of the kind in the city of Edinburgh,
and probably unparalleled out of it. The main part of the building
consists of three conjoined blocks, forming three sides of a square.
Part of the surrounding ground is laid out as an ornamental grass-plot,
and a new machine-room has been recently erected upon another portion.
In the main building there are three floors apportioned to the various
branches of the trade. Machinery is used wherever it is possible, and
by its aid, and by a well-organized system of division of labour,
the number of books manufactured is enormous. Everything, from the
compilation of a book to the lettering of its binding, is done upon
the premises, and for the founts of type and the paper alone are the
proprietors indebted to outside help.
The letterpress department consists of a spacious composing-room,
a splendidly fitted machine-room, a press-room, and a stereotype
foundry. As very large numbers of the works are issued, they are almost
invariably printed from stereotype plates--a process said to have been
invented by William Ged, a goldsmith in Edinburgh at the beginning of
the last century; the Dutch, however, with some justice, claim the
discovery for one of their countrymen, a very long time before this
date; at all events, the process was still almost a novelty when, as
we have seen, Kelly first utilized it in London. In the machine-room
and the press-room there are nineteen machines and seventeen presses
constantly at work. Here large numbers of children’s books are
produced, and a number of machines are devoted to colour printing.
From the machine-room the sheets are taken to the drying-room, where
they are hung up in layers upon screens, which, when filled, are run
into a hot-air chamber, where the ink is thoroughly dried in six or
eight hours.
The bookbinding department occupies several large rooms, and
employs two-thirds of all the work-people engaged. Although machines
are provided for a great variety of operations, a large amount of
hand-labour is found to be indispensable. As soon as the sheets
have been thoroughly dried, they are folded by young women, as the
machine-folding is only suitable for the coarser kinds of work. After
this process, the sheets are arranged by another staff of girls in the
proper order for binding, compressed in a powerful press, and notches
for the binding cords are cut by a machine. They are then passed on to
the sewers, who sit upon long benches plying their deft needles.
The case-makers have by this time prepared the cases, and in connection
with this department there is a cloth-dyeing and embossing branch,
where the cloths are prepared; the coloured and enamelled papers for
the insides are also made upon the premises. The case-makers are
divided into half-a-dozen different sections, each of which performs a
certain and distinct portion of the work. The pasteboard and cloth are
first cut to the required size, and then one girl spreads the glue upon
the cloth, a second lays the board upon its proper place, a third tucks
the cloth in all round, a fourth smoothes off the work, and the covers
are now taken to the embosser, who puts on the ornamental additions,
and finally the books are fixed in the cases, and sent down to their
warehouse, whence they are despatched to all corners of the world,
principally, of course, to the London and New York branches.
The lithographic establishment comprises a number of rooms. Sixteen
machines and presses are constantly engaged, principally in the
production of maps, book illustrations, coloured pictures, and the
beautifully-tinted lithographic views, which Messrs. Nelson were mainly
instrumental in introducing to the notice of the public. Among the
artists employed here in executing preliminary work are photographers,
draughtsmen, steel, copper, and wood engravers, and electrotypers.
By a process patented by Messrs. Nelson, in conjunction with Mr.
Ramage (to whose services they owe much of the superiority of their
illustrations), a drawing or print may be converted into an engraving
suitable for printing from by the simple action of light, and these
engravings, either for copper-plate or letter-press printing, may be
multiplied and made larger or smaller at will. The storerooms are said
to contain upwards of fifty thousand wood-cuts and electrotypes.
Even the inks and varnishes are manufactured upon the premises.
Messrs. Thomas Nelson and Sons employ some four hundred and fifty
work-people in their establishment, about one-half of whom are young
women.
The whole of Scotland is of course supplied from the head-quarters in
Hope Park; but they have also large branches in London and New York.
The former--situated in, or rather forming, Warwick Buildings, at the
corner of Paternoster Row--is, though a branch, as large a bookselling
warehouse as any in London, and in its interior arrangements is
unrivalled. The basement storey is devoted to the stowage of wholesale
stock and the execution of export and country orders, and over the shop
there are four lofty floors.
The Scotch have during the century especially cultivated the trade of
printing and bookselling. In the former branch alone, ten thousand
persons are employed in Scotland, five thousand of whom are engaged in
the capital. In 1860 there were in Edinburgh no less than thirty firms,
who combine the united business of publishing and bookselling, besides
ninety who confine themselves to bookselling alone. The eight or nine
leading houses, with one exception, print themselves the books they
sell; a practice which is almost indigenous to Edinburgh, or, at all
events, does not obtain in London. The advantage of cheap labour, which
includes, of course, cheap paper, are here so great, especially in the
issue of large editions, as to more than counteract the drawback in the
shape of transit cost to, and agents’ commission in, London. We have
already entered into the history of several of these leading Edinburgh
houses, and as our space is growing scanty, we can scarcely now do more
than mention the firm of Oliver and Boyd; and though, from their long
standing and importance, the career of the house would afford material
for an interesting chapter, we must hope to have an opportunity of
recurring to the subject at a not very distant time. Formerly Oliver
and Boyd enjoyed a very large share of the Scotch country business, and
occupied indeed much the same position in the northern, as is held by
Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., in the southern, capital. Of later years,
however, their attention has been more exclusively fixed upon the
publication of educational works, and among the writers whose books
have been issued by them, the names of Spalding, Reid, Morell, White,
and McCulloch, are known to every schoolboy. “The Edinburgh Academy
Class-Books” have also attained a very wide circulation far beyond the
walls of the Edinburgh Academy; and “Oliver and Boyd’s Catechisms,”
published at the low price of ninepence each, are used in nearly all
elementary classes where science, in any form, is taught. As a book
of reference for students of every grade, of a larger growth, _Oliver
and Boyd’s Edinburgh Almanac_ is, perhaps, unrivalled for the fulness
and yet conciseness of every branch of official information, at all
essential to the inhabitants of Scotland.
[Illustration]
_SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO._: