History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 75

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666

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About 1850 the annual value of books published in Cincinnati was one million two hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars; 1858, two million six hundred thousand dol- lars. The number of volumes published in 1858 was estimated at three million two hundred thousand. Nearly. all the public schools in the west were then supplied with text books from Cincinnati. In 1859 seventeen publish- ing houses were in business here.

In 1850, Messrs. H. S. & J. Applegate & Co. began the business of bookselling and publishing, at 43 Main street. They went into the work with a great deal of energy, and quite extensively for that time. Their first year's product included one thousand copies of Clarke's Commentary, in four volumes; ten thousand of Dick's Works, two volumes; four thousand Plutarch's Lives, three thousand Rollin's Ancient History, two thousand Spectator, besides Histories of Texas, Oregon, and Cali- fornia, and several other works, all together valued at sixty-two thousand five hundred dollars. They were pub- lishers of Lyons's grammar, the Parley history series, and two music books then popular-the Sacred Melodeon and the Sabbath Chorister.

About the same time Messrs. W. H. Moore & Co., of 118 Main street, who had been publishing school books for eight years, entered the field as general publishers, issuing only foreign books at first, as Hugh Miller's Foot- prints of the Creator and Anderson's Course of Creation. Mr. Cist says :

These have attracted general and favorable notice at the east, as evi- dences that books can be got up in the west, as regards paper, print- ing, and binding, in a style not inferior to those in the east, and that miscellaneous literature can be published to advantage in Cincinnati, although a contrary opinion prevails in our Atlantic cities.

J. F. Desilver, also a publishing bookseller, at 122 Main street-which street seems to have been to Cincin- nati in those days what Nassau street was to New York- made a specialty of medical and law books, publishing, among other valuable works, in royal octavo, Worcester on Cutaneous Diseases, Hope's Pathological Anatomy, and Harrison's Therapeutics. All these were beautifully illustrated with lithographs, executed in the city; the last named, in all particulars of mechanical execution, was believed to rank with any eastern publication of its class.

J. A. & U. P. James were issuing Gibbon's Rome, the Libraries of American History and of General Knowledge, Dick's theology, family Bibles, and the like,

in large numbers. Within two years they had published fourteen thousand copies of Hughes's Doniphan Expedi- tion.

E. Morgan & Co., III Main street, issued within the year twenty thousand family Bibles, fifteen thousand copies of Josephus, ten thousand of the life of Tecumseh, one hundred thousand Webster's spelling books, ten thousand Walker's school dictionary, and other books in considerable quantity-all together worth fifty-four thous- and dollars.

WESTERN METHODIST BOOK CONCERN.

The first Methodist book concern in this country was founded in Philadelphia by the General conference of 1787. It was removed to New York in 1804, and its profits were mainly devoted to the enlargement of its fa- cilities for publication, instead of the maintenance of Cokesbury college and other schools, as theretofore. In 1820 a branch concern was located in Cincinnati, to sup- ply the States west of the Alleghanies with Methodist books. It found a modest home in a little office on the corner of Fifth and Elm streets, to which the stranger was guided by the words on a rude sign of trifling di- mensions, "Methodist Book Room." The agent in charge was Rev. Martin Ruter, afterwards president of Alleghany college and a pioneer preacher of his faith in Texas, where he finally laid down his life. Dr. Ruter printed a Scriptural Catechism and Primer during his connection with the branch, but it was on his own ac- count, as he was not expected or allowed to publish any- thing in the name or at the risk of the concern. He re- ceived a little more than four thousand dollars the first year, which was considered a very fair business for that day, and remained in office until 1828, when his term expired by limitation, and he was succeeded, by election of the General conference, by the Rev. Charles Holliday. Fin- ley's Sketches of Western Methodism, which supplies us the earlier facts of this sketch, says:

"In that small store, had the inquiry been made, there might have been found the works of Wesley, Fletcher, Clark, and Coke, together with the Journals of Asbury and Hymn-book and Discipline. There also one might have subscribed for the Christian Advocate and Zion's Herald, and, had he desired to become more intimately acquainted with the condition and prospects of the church, he might have obtained a copy of the General Minutes.

Agent Holliday secured a house for his residence on George street, between Race and Elm, and used the front room for the depository of the Concern. After two years here the store was removed to a stone building on the northwest corner of Baker and Walnut streets. Mr. Henry Shaffer, who is still living (February, 1881) in Cincinnati, was then a clerk in the office. The new lo- cation was better for business than the other, and the General conference of 1832 appointed the Rev. John S. Wright assistant agent and directed removal to a still more eligible site, which was found on the west side of Main street, a little above Sixth, in the store-building of Mr. Josiah Lawrence. Operations widened year by year, and the branch proved a most efficient auxiliary in sup- plying the west and south with Methodist literature. The demand for Hymn-books and Disciplines was particularly large, and about 1833 a beginning of the magnificent

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line of publications of what became the Western Book Concern was made, under permission of the New York Concern, by the issue of an edition of these books. Next year, in the spring of 1834, the Western Christian Advocate was started under its auspices, with the Rev. (afterwards Bishop) Thomas A. Morris as editor.

"In 1836," says Mr. Finley, "the General conference struck out of the discipline the provision which limited the office of book agent to eight years, and the agents of the Western Book Concern were not required to act any longer in a subordinate capacity to the New York Book Concern, but to 'co-operate with them.' They were also authorized to publish any book in the general catalogue when, in their judgment and that of the book committee, it would be advantageous to the in- terests of the church; provided that they should not publish type editions of such books as were stereotyped at New York."

Revs. J. F. Wright and L. Swormstedt were elected agents. They were further authorized to set up a print- ing office and bindery, and, after much consultation and the requisite approval of the book committee, they purchased the old, historic lot on the southwest corner of Main and Eighth streets, upon which still stands the brick mansion, now almost a wreck, said to have been built in 1806 by General Arthur St. Clair, formerly gov- ernor of the Northwest Territory. A printing office was erected on the rear of this lot, four stories high, and otherwise on a spacious scale. Here the first book print- ed by the concern from manuscript was Phillips' Stric- ures, whose publication was requested by the Ohio Con- ference. Then followed The Wyandot Mission, Power on Universalism, Shaffer on Baptism, Ohio Conference Offering, Morris' Miscellany, Memoir of Gurley, Lives of Quinn, Roberts, Collins, Wiley, Finley, and Gatch, and many other works of renown in the Methodist churches. Duplicates of the stereotype plates held by the parent concern in New York were sent out for many of the reprints.

In 1839 the Concern was chartered by the State legis- lature. In 1840, upon the re-election of Messrs. Wright and Swormstedt, they were authorized to start a month- ly magazine specially adapted to female reading. · This, the long famous Ladies' Repository (to which title the addition "and Gatherings of the West" was made at first) appeared in January, 1841, with Rev. L. L. Ham- line, then assistant editor of the Advocate, as editor; and was continued with much success until the close of 1880, when its publication, with that of the juvenile magazine, The Golden Hours, ceased by order of the General Con- ference of that year.

The agents now, according to Mr. Finley, "had au- thority to publish any book which had not been previ- ously published by the agents in New York when, in their judgment and that of the book committee, the demand for such publication would justify and the inter- est of the church required it. They were, however, pro- hibited from reprinting any of the larger works, such as the commentaries, quarto bibles, etc. They were also authorized to publish such books and tracts as were re-

commended by the General Conference, and any other works which the editors should approve and the Book committee and the annual Conference recommend." A German Methodist paper was now started, called Der Christliche Apologete, in charge of Rev. William Nast, who receives more particular notice in our historic sketch of Methodism in Cincinnati.

It became necessary by and by to add further to the fa- cilities possessed by the Concern. An adjoining lot was bought, upon which was erected the main building for the Concern, six stories high, fifty feet front, and over one hundred feet deep; then still another building, of four stories, occupied by stores, the rent of which added materially to the revenues of the Concern. These, by the way, were at this time not kept at home, but, after payment of expenses, were remitted, as largely and fre- quently. as possible, to the full amount of stock furnished, whenever practicable, to swell the profits of the New York Concern.

Rev. J. F. Wright resigned as principal agent in 1844. He was succeeded by L. Swormstedt, promoted from assistant, and Rev. J. T. Mitchell was chosen for the sec- ond place, to which the Revs. John Power and Adam Poe were successively and subsequently appointed.

Mr. Finley writes thus of the operations of the Book Concern :

We are informed by reliable authority that the amount of sales dur- ing the current year is greater than at any former period, and greater than all the sales effected during many of the first years of the existence of the Concern. In addition to the sales the Concern issues twenty-six thousand copies of the Western Christian Advocate, eighteen thousand copies of the Ladies' Repository, thirty thousand copies of the Sunday- School Advocate, six thousand copies of the Missionary Advocate, and five thousand of the German Apologist. In view of what has been accom- plished during the thirty-four years of its existence, commencing with a small branch depository, and gradually increasing to its present giant proportions as a wholesale establishment, what mind can calculate its future expansion or the amount of good yet to be accomplished in this great work of spreading a pure literature and a scriptural holiness over all these lands?

Rev. Dr. J. M. Walden, present agent of the Concern, in an article contributed to one of the New York publi- cations of the church, adds some interesting details and valuable statistics. We republish it in full:

ITS ESTABLISHMENT .- It did not develop from an individual enter- prise, but from the first has been under the control of the church.

I. The general conference directed the agents of the Book Concern to open a branch in Cincinnati in 1820 to meet the wants of the grow- ing church in the west. The preachers found it difficult to secure books for themselves and their charges, because of the expense and delay in transporting them from New York. The proposition to divide the busi- ness met with opposition, but discussion satisfied the conference, largely composed of castern delegates, that a book depository in the west would be advantageous to the church and its publishing interests. Cin- cinnati was chosen for the location, and Rev. Martin Ruter was elected the first agent.

2. At that time the Methodist Magazine was the only periodical of the church, and the list of books was so limited that one room in the agent's dwelling was sufficient for the new enterprise. The business steadily increased; and in a few years a bindery and printing-office were opened, and it was found advantageous to ship printed sheets from New York and bind them in Cincinnati.

3, After a probation of twenty years the Cincinnati branch, in 1840, was constituted an independent house, and styled the Western Method- ist Book Concern, under which name it is legally incorporated. The business relations between it and the New York Concern were fixed by the general conference.

ITS EXPANSION. The growth of the church in the west made it

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necessary to increase the facilities and enlarge the work of the Western Book Concern.

I. At first the printing was done on hand-presses, and little ma- chinery was used in the bindery. By the introduction of improved machinery the productive capacity of the publishing department at Cincinnati is probably a hundred-fold what it was in 1840.

2. The merchandise department has been greatly increased in Cin- cinnati, and extended to other points. The Chicago depository was opened in 1852, the St. Louis depository in 1860 (Sunday-school books were kept on sale there even earlier), the Atlanta depository in 1869, and an "Advocate" established at each of these points by the order of the general conference.

3. A Methodist literature in the German language, including books and periodicals, has been created by the Western Book Concern, and a similar work in the Scandinavian has been begun.

4. The buildings now fully occupied by the business in Cincinnati cost above one hundred thousand dollars in addition to the land. The depositories were not designed to serve a mere temporary purpose ; hence the investment of capital for their accommodation in Chicago and St. Louis. The growth of the Western Book Concern is shown by this: In April, 1840, its capital in merchandise was thirty-nine thou- sand, one hundred and eleven dollars and sixty-seven cents ; in the pub- lishing department four thousand, three hundred and forty-nine dollars and five cents ; total, forty-three thousand, four hundred and sixty dol- lars and seventy-two cents. On November 30, 1879, the capital in merchandise was one hundred and ninety-two thousand, six hundred and ninety-one dollars and thirty-eight cents ; in the publishing depart- ment, one hundred and eighty-seven thousand, four hundred and nine dollars and eighty-five cents ; total, three hundred and eighty thousand, one hundred and one dollars and twenty-three cents. The total sales . in 1840 were forty-eight thousand, six hundred and fifty dollars ; the total sales in 1879 were six hundred and thirty-nine thousand, eight hundred and eighty-eight dollars.

ITS PRODUCTION AND CIRCULATION OF RELIGIOUS LITERATURE. - The list of Western periodicals and the catalogue of books each shows the increase in the demand for Methodist literature, and how fully it has been met.

I. The English periodicals were established in the following order : Western Christian Advocate, April, 1834 ; Ladies' Repository, Janu- ary, 1841 ; Northwestern Christian Advocate, Chicago, January, 1853 ; Central Christian Advocate, St. Louis, January, 1857 ; Methodist Ad- vocate, Atlanta, January, 1869 ; Golden Hours, January, 1869. The Germain: The Christian Apologist, January, 1839; Sunday-School Bell, October, 1856; Bible Lessons, July, 1870; Home and Hearth (Magazine), January, 1873 ; Little Folks, July, 1879. The Scandinavian paper, The Sandebudet, January, 1863. The Sunday-School Advo- cate, Sunday-School Journal, Sunday-School Classmate, Picture Lesson Paper, the Missionary Advocate during its existence, have been and are printed in the West, as well as in the East, this being found economi- cal in the end. About fifty million copies of the Western Christian Ad- vocate and twenty million copies of the Christian Apologist have been printed and read.

2. Besides standard Methodist books printed in common with the New York Book Concern, the Western Book Concern has published a large number of biographical, historical, doctrinal, and miscellaneous works in English, valuable contributions to the literature of the church, among the more recent of which are the works of Bishops Hamline, Clark, Thompson, Kingsley, Wiley, and Merrill; Ecclesiastical Law, by Bishop Harris and Judge Henry; Systematic Theology, by Dr. Raymond; History of the Christian Church, by Dr. Blackburn; Plat- form Papers, by Dr. Curry, etc.

The German publications, about two hundred different volumes, are produced exclusively by this concern, and comprise the various classes of books needed by the preachers, the church and the Sunday-school. 3. An estimate of the quantity of Methodist literature put in circu- lation by the Western Book Concern may be made from its cash value. During the forty years the sales have aggregated: Books seven million three hundred and ninety-five thousand seven hundred and fourteen dollars and seventy-two cents; periodicals, seven million three hundred / and eighty thousand three hundred and forty-five dollars and forty - seven cents; total, fourteen million seven hundred and seventy-six thou- sand sixty dollars and nineteen cents. A computation of the number of volumes or pages would be difficult, but the money value shows that this concern has been of vast service to the church.

4. The great bulk of these sales has been made by the preachers. They carried the books to the homes of the people, solicited the names of subscribers to the periodicals, and introduced both books and papers

into Sunday-schools. No system of colportage or other method could have reached the people as has the plan of our church, made effective by the efforts of her pastors.

5. How much of this literature would have been circulated without the Western Book Concern? A direct answer cannot be given, but the establishment of depositories and papers at Boston, Syracuse, Pitts- burgh, etc., by the general conference, interprets the conviction of the church that every interest is best served by having depots for her litera- ture in the great commercial centres. The sales of the Western Book Concern since 1852, when the Chicago depository was opened, have been thirteen million nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand one hun- dred and sixty-eight dollars and twelve cents, of which those at Cincin- nati have been eight million four hundred and seventy-two thousand nine hundred and forty-five dollars and seventy-eight cents, and at her depositories, five million five hundred and twenty-six thousand two hun- dred and twenty-two dollars and thirty-four cents.

ITS FINANCIAL SUCCESS.

The large business of the Western Book Concern has, by small profit and economical management, yielded a large aggregate profit, part of which has been added to the capital, part paid out for the support of the bishops and other church purposes, and part expended in maintain- ing papers, etc., ordered by the general conference.

I. April 1, 1840, the Western Concern owed the New York Con- cern one hundred and five thousand one hundred and three dollars and fifty-six cents. This was canceled by the general conference, which raised the net capital to one hundred and thirty thousand six hundred and three dollars and sixty-six cents, showing a net gain from 1820 of at least twenty-five thousand five hundred and ten dollars and ten cents. The net capital November 30, 1879, was four hundred and seventy-four thousand one hundred and seventy-eight dollars and forty-seven cents, a gain of three hundred and forty-three thousand five hundred and sev- enty-four dollars and eighty-one cents since it became independent. The only drafts on the proceeds from 1840 to 1852 were the dividend to annual conferences and loss on German publications, most of which have been remunerative for twenty-five years.

Since 1852, when the support of the bishops was placed on the 2, Book Concerns and the depository system began in the west, the drafts on the proceeds have been as follows : For the church south, by ruling of the supreme court, one hundred and two thousand forty-seven dol- lars and nine cents ; by order of general conference, for bishops, etc., one hundred and seventy-three thousand five hundred and thirty-six dollars and sixteen cents ; direct loss by the Chicago fire, one hundred and two thousand two hundred and twenty-one dollars and forty-eight cents ; and losses on the Central Christian Advocate, Methodist Advo- cate, the Scandinavian papers, and the Chicago Depository since the fire, one hundred and fifty-seven thousand one hundred and thirty-six dollars and forty-nine cents ; a total of five hundred and thirty-four thou- sand nine hundred and forty-one dollars and twenty-two cents; which shows an aggregate profit of eight hundred and seventy-eight thousand five hundred and sixteen dollars on the business during the forty years.

3. It is proper to state that the financial credit of the Western Con- cern has been steadily maintained. Supplying books and papers on credit, and enlarging the business, have necessitated large loans. These have been readily made. Its financial paper has never been pro- tested, and in the most stringent times its large corps of employes have been promptly paid. Since the late general conference it has issued six per cent. five-twenty bonds, and sold of them at par above one hundred thousand dollars with which to liquidate liabilities heretofore bearing eight per cent. interest. The productive capital, the past profits, and the credits of the Western Book Concern indicate its success as a finan- cial enterprise.

The Western Tract and Book society was organized in Cincinnati as the American Reform Tract and Book so- ciety in November, 1852. Its underlying idea was the application through literature of Christianity to the bet- terment of personal and national life in practical affairs, especially to the promotion of the anti-slavery cause, while temperance and other reforms were not to be neg- lected. The two noteworthy articles of the constitution were, as they still are, these:

ART. II. Its object shall be to promote the diffusion of divine truth, point out its application to every known sin, and to promote the inter- ests of practical religion by the circulation of a sound evangelical litera- ture.

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

ART. III. It will receive into its treasury none of the known fruits of iniquity nor the gains of the oppressor.

The first officers of the society were: Rev. John Ran- kin, president; Rev. C. B. Boynton, corresponding sec- retary; Rev. J. Cable, recording secretary ; T. B. Mason, treasurer; Rev. A. Benton, Rev. C. B. Boynton, J. K. Leavitt, J. Jolliffe, M. R. Coney, Joseph Burgoyne, Sam- .uel Lee, Dr. J. P. Walker, T. B. Mason, G. S. Stearns, A. S. Merrill, William Lee, directors. Of these Messrs. Ran- kin, Boynton, Walker, and Mason are still living, most of them in Cincinnati. The officers of the society last elected at this writing, are: Rev. B. P. Aydelott, D. D., president; Revs. E. D. Morris, D. D., C. B. Boynton, D. D., Robert Patterson, D. D., W. H. James, I. N. Stanger and Messrs. William Summer, H. Thane Miller, S. W. Haughton, and W. H. Taylor, vice-presidents; Revs. W. H. French, A. B. Morey, S. W. Duncan, C. H. Daniels, F. S. Fitch, J. P. E. Kumler, R. H. Leonard, E. D. Led- yard, A. H. Ritchie, and J. P. Walker, F. Dallas, J. Webb, jr., W. J. Breed, J. Scott Peebles, directors; A. S. Mer- rill, recording secretary ; executive officers elected by the board, Rev. A. Ritchie, editor and corresponding secre- tary; J. Webb, jr., treasurer; Sutton and Scott, deposita- ries.

Dr. Aydelott, an old and much venerated clergyman of Cincinnati, was president of the society during the last ten years of his life, vacating the chair by his death, Sep- tember II, 1880.

The constitution was amended after the close of the war, August 15, 1865. Since the accomplishment of emancipation, the anti-slavery feature, so long and influ- entially prominent in its operations, was dropped, as also the word "Reform" from its name, although much atten- tion is still given in its publications to the practical appli- cations of Christianity. , It co-operates with the American Tract and Book society, keeps a full supply of its pub- lications in stock, and receives from it and disburses sev- enteen per cent. of the entire sum appropriated for charitable distribution. It has thus scattered many mil- lions of printed pages far and wide in various forms, and its publications-including a neat little monthly paper called the Christian Press-make a very respectable list. The headquarters of the society are fixed by the consti- tution in Cincinnati, and are located at 176 Elm street.

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 75

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co. Number of Pages: 666

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666