—Mr. Young, the present President of this organization, writes:
“The records of the family tree of the Sanborn publications go back into the eighteenth century. The predecessors of the present concern appear to have been in the textbook business from the beginning, and to have specialized in English grammars. The earliest trace we have is of the publication of Staniford’s Short but Comprehensive Grammar Rendered Simple and Easy by Familiar Questions and Answers Adapted to the Capacity of Youth. This was printed by Mannering & Loring, of Boston, January, 1797. Later came The Elements of English Grammar by Adoniram Judson in 1808. Following Mannering & Loring came the firm of Loring & Edmunds. They were the publishers of Lindley Murray’s Grammar. Following Loring & Edmunds came Robert S. Davis, then Robert S. Davis & Company, then Leach, Shewell & Sanborn, and now Benj. H. Sanborn & Company.
“In addition to the Lindley Murray Grammar, one of the notable achievements of the predecessors of Benj. H. Sanborn & Company was the publication of the Greenleaf Arithmetics. The first contract for these books goes back to 1832. Greenleaf, by the way, a Maine teacher, sold the copyright of his first book for $10,000 in gold. This was more money than Greenleaf had ever seen before in his life, and he at once took the boat to Boston to deposit it.”
JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.
—Charles Wiley established the business in 1807. John Wiley came into it as a clerk in 1820 and continued until 1890. He had associated with him at various times George Palmer Putnam, Mr. Long, and Robert Halsted. The concern became John Wiley & Sons in 1865. Major William H. Wiley entered it in 1875, and W. O. Wiley in 1890. The house was incorporated in 1904.
The first educational publication was a History of the United States, which was issued by the founder of the house just after the War of 1812, and contained an account of that war. The first technical book was published in 1819, entitled A View of the Lead Mines of Missouri, by Henry R. Schoolcraft.
HARPER & BROTHERS.
—This house was founded in 1817 by John Harper, Wesley Harper, James Harper, and Fletcher Harper. Harper & Brothers began to publish educational books in 1836, the title of their first publication being Professor Anthon’s Classical Series. Some of their most notable educational books are the Harper Geographies, Harper’s United States Series of Readers, Harper’s Arithmetics, Rolfe’s Shakespeare, Swinton’s Language Books, Green’s Short History of the English People, Harper’s Greek and Latin texts. In 1890 or thereabouts, the American Book Company bought the educational list of Harper & Brothers.
James Harper, the oldest brother of the original four Harpers, was elected Mayor of New York City in 1844. He originated the idea of the magazine, and Fletcher, who was an unusually fine business man, the idea of Harper’s Weekly.