American Literary Publishing in the Mid-nineteenth Century
The Business of Ticknor and Fields

A study of Boston-based Ticknor and Fields, a leading literary publisher of its time.

Michael Winship (Author)

9780521526661, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 October 2003

268 pages, 5 b/w illus. 41 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.4 kg

"Parts of this important story have been told before,...but never so satisfactorily and coherently as in this remarkably learned and sensible book. 19th Century Literature

This is a study of some of the central questions in literary publishing in mid-nineteenth-century North America and Britain, addressed through examination of the unusually rich archives of a unique publishing firm. Boston-based Ticknor and Fields, one of the pre-eminent literary publishers of its time, enjoyed close links with Britain, and also developed new production, distribution, and marketing skills as the settlement of North America pushed ever further west. Michael Winship has studied the firm's business records and publications in detail: he reveals what Ticknor and Fields published, its costs of production, the ways it marketed and distributed its books, and the profits it made. Winship goes on to explore the implications of the firm's work for the book trade in general, and to show how an investigation of Ticknor and Fields enriches our understanding of the literary and cultural history of Britain and North America.

Introduction
1. Publishing history and Ticknor and Fields
2. The business records of Ticknor and Fields
3. The publications of Ticknor and Fields
4. Production and Ticknor and Fields: paper
5. Production and Ticknor and Fields (cont.): binding
6. Distribution and Ticknor and Fields
7. The profits of Ticknor and Fields
Conclusion
Appendix A. Distribution network of Ticknor and Fields in 1856
Appendix B. Ticknor and Fields publications, 1858–9.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]