ONE HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 PUBLISHING 
 
 1785— 1885. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 LEA BROTHERS & CO, 
 
^^3^ 
 
 ^i-4' 
 
ONE HUNDKI'l) Y1L\KS OF Pi:i5l,ISIlL\G. 
 
 When a business house, handecj cliOwn./rom 
 father to son, has withstood the \'4dssitude3-'pf ii: 
 centur)', it can look back with paVdbn'able pride 
 upon its past career, and can anticipate, with 
 reasonable hope, a continuance of the prosperity 
 hitherto secured by the labors of its members. A 
 house which dates back nearly to the close of the 
 War of Independence, which has since then sur- 
 vived all the alternations of peace and war, the 
 rise and fall of successive financial systems and 
 the frequently recurring convulsions of trade, 
 while invariably maintaining- its commercial honor 
 and never failing- to meet its obligations to the 
 day, has proved itself to possess the qualifications 
 which win and deserve success ; and its present 
 members may be pardoned if they desire to put on 
 record a brief memorial of what their predeces- 
 sors have accomplished. 
 
 Born in Dublin in 1759, Mathew Carey, the 
 founder of the house, selected the occupation of a 
 printer and bookseller. The ardor of his youthful 
 temperament, however, could not be satisfied with 
 
the details of trade, and he early took an active 
 part In the political movements of the day. In 
 1779, at the age of twenty, he published a pam- / 
 phlet, entitled "A Letter to the Catholics of Ire- V 
 land,!' iwhidh; trenched so nearly upon sedition that 
 a reward was' offered for his apprehension, and 
 his father caused him to be conveyed away se- 
 cretly to Paris. There he acquired the friendship 
 of Benjamin Franklin and the Marquis de la Fay- 
 ette, and remained for more than a year, until 
 the excitement aroused by his pamphlet had sub- 
 sided. After his return to Ireland, his Indomitable 
 character manifested Itself characteristically by 
 his commencing, In 1783, the publication of a 
 daily paper called the "Volunteer's Journal," 
 which in after times he appropriately described as 
 "enthusiastic and violent." It speedily acquired 
 so wide an influence that in April, 1784, the Irish 
 Premier made a motion in the Commons asking 
 the Lord Lieutenant to offer a reward for the 
 apprehension of Mr. Carey; he was arrested and 
 was thrown Into Newgate on the sole authority of 
 Parliament, but was triumphandy liberated by the 
 Lord Mayor as soon as Parliament adjourned. 
 Still there was a criminal prosecution hanging 
 over him for libel on the Premier, and the 
 Attorney-General filed a bill to deprive him of the 
 
protection of the g-rand jur)\ Ireland was evl- 
 dendy no longer safe for a man of his indepen- 
 dence and resolute spirit, and he turned his eyes 
 to the land beyond the Adantic, which had just 
 succeeded in throwing off its colonial bondage. 
 He escaped in disguise, embarked for the United 
 States, and landed in Philadelphia, November 
 15th, 1784, with only a few guineas in his pocket. 
 La Fayette chanced at the time to be visiting 
 Washinorton, at Mount Vernon, and hearincr from 
 a fellow-passenger of the arrival of young Carey, 
 he generously sent him a cheque for four hundred 
 dollars — a benefaction which the recipient in after 
 years had the sadsfaction of returning. On this 
 slender capital Mr. Carey at once proceeded to 
 establish a daily journal, and In January, 1785, we 
 already find him issuing "The Pennsylvania Even- 
 ing Herald." The new enterprise quickly won a 
 marked success, principally owing to a novel fea- 
 ture introduced by its editor and publisher — the 
 reporting in extenso the debates of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Assembly, which Mr. Carey's remarkably 
 quick and retendve memor}^ enabled him to do in 
 person. 
 
 Before twelve months were over, the )'Outh who 
 thus vigorously asserted himself in a strange land 
 was involved in a personal altercation. Colonel 
 
Oswald, editor and publisher of the "Independent 
 Gazetteer," the organ of the party then known as 
 Republicans, had vainly sought to prevent the 
 founding of a rival journal, and, failing in this, 
 resolved to crush it and its owner. Personalities 
 ran high in those days. Mr. Carey, like his oppo- 
 nent, was not lacking in vituperative power, and 
 the result was a duel, fought in January, 1786. 
 Mr. Carey was no fire-eater. Oddly enough, his 
 first venture in authorship had been an essay 
 against duelling, printed in 1777, and he used to 
 relate that prior to his meeting with Colonel 
 Oswald he had never fired a pistol but once, and 
 that was when hiding in Dublin he had desired to 
 unload a weapon that had been given to him, and 
 had discharged it up a chimney. His opponent 
 had served throughout the Revolution and was a 
 practised shot, as was shown by his lodging his 
 bullet in Mr. Carey's thigh-bone, stretching him 
 on his back for about sixteen months. Mr. Carey 
 justified his conduct in this matter by his settled 
 conviction that in no other way could he over- 
 come an organized attempt to destroy his career; 
 and it is pleasant to chronicle that the two antago- 
 nists became good friends. 
 
 Mr. Carey evidently was not a man to be di- 
 verted from a settled purpose, and he possessed 
 
qualifications which insured success in his calling-, 
 A fine classical scholar, as well as a man of gener- 
 al culture, he was gifted with indomitable energy, 
 strong native sagacity and unswerving integrity, 
 which won the confidence of all with whom he 
 was thrown. His industry was such that for 
 twenty-five years he was present every morning 
 when the shutters of his store were taken down 
 for the day. The thirteen States of the period 
 offered no very wide market for literary wares, 
 but, such as it was, Mr. Carey resolved to culti- 
 vate its possibilities to the utmost, and a monthly 
 magazine, "The Columbian," was soon added to 
 the daily "Herald." This magazine had not a 
 long existence, but it was succeeded by another 
 under the name of "The American Museum," 
 which he commenced in 1 787 and continued for thir- 
 teen years. This periodical enjoyed the approba- 
 tion of General Washington and numbered amonor 
 its contributors many leading men of the day. 
 The publication of books soon followed upon 
 journalism, and under his active impulsion speed- 
 ily rose to proportions of no little magnitude for 
 the period. Perhaps his most important venture 
 was the Bible in quarto, both the Douay transla- 
 tion and the Authorized Version, which, for a 
 considerable period, were the only quarto Bibles 
 
 A 
 
of American manufacture in the market. Their 
 production required not only enterprise, but an 
 amount of capital by no means inconsiderable for 
 those days. Stereotyping was at that time un- 
 known. In one of his letter-books for 1804 there 
 is a correspondence with a party in London, who 
 offered to come to this country and introduce 
 the process invented not long before by Didot, 
 but the terms named were too extravagant and 
 the project was abandoned. It was no easy 
 problem to keep the market supplied with a book 
 involving so heavy an outlay in type-setting as the 
 Bible, and Mr. Carey solved it with characteristic 
 energy by keeping the whole volume standing in 
 type. Some of the chases containing this type 
 remained until 1844 in the office of Isaac Ash- 
 mead, and were then broken up in order to use 
 the brevier letter of the side notes on a cheap 
 edition of Lover's " Rory O'More." Among the 
 most popular books of Mr. Carey's period were 
 Wemyss' biographies of Washington and Marion, 
 and Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia," while "Lavoi- 
 sine's Atlas," the "American Atlas," "Bonaparte's 
 Ornithology," East's "Reports " and various other 
 works were enterprises of magnitude in a commu- 
 nity so small and containing so few book buyers as 
 the United States in the early years of the century. 
 
At the present time, when steam and electricity 
 furnish such ample facilities for business, it is not 
 easy to realize the difficulties which beset its 
 transaction two or three generations ago. Not 
 only was the hand-press a ver^^ inadequate imple- 
 ment for the manufacture of books, but their 
 distribution when manufactured was by no means 
 the affair of organized system, such as we are 
 accustomed to. Mr. Carey reprinted the Waverly 
 Novels, as they appeared, under arrangements 
 with Constable & Co. for "early sheets." Though 
 two or three copies would be sent out by different 
 packets, the uncertainty of the voyage always 
 rendered it doubtful whether some rival might not 
 obtain an ordinary copy almost, if not quite as 
 soon. When the sheets were received, therefore, 
 relays of compositors worked over them night 
 and day, and as soon as the binder finished his 
 work a stage-coach would be chartered to carry 
 to New York the supplies required for that city. 
 This w^as regarded at that time as a wonderful 
 exhibition of enterprise, and Mr. William A. 
 Blanchard, who entered Mr. Carey's service as a 
 boy, in 1812, used to relate how he would be sent 
 off in charge of such a stage-load of a "Waverly," 
 and travel, perched upon the bundles of books, 
 night and day, to be ferried across the North 
 
lO 
 
 River and deliver his packages to the various 
 booksellers of New York — a service not without 
 hardship, and even risk, in inclement seasons. 
 
 The ardor which thus overcame all business 
 obstacles was displayed by Mr. Carey in every 
 relation of life. He was emphatically a philan- 
 thropic and public-spirited citizen, whose tireless 
 energy was freely expended on all worthy objects 
 commanding his sympathies. During the fearful 
 epidemic of yellow fever in 1 793, he was one of 
 the committee who, with Stephen Girard, volun- 
 tarily remained in the city and devoted themselves 
 to succoring their stricken fellow-citizens; and his 
 graphic account of the scourge, which went through 
 four editions, is still considered indispensable to 
 all students of the history of the disease. 
 
 In 1 8 10 he took a leading part in the agitation 
 over the re-chartering of the Bank of the United 
 States; and in 18 14 his "Olive Branch; or, Faults 
 on Both Sides," written to allay the savage discord 
 between political parties during the war with Great 
 Britain, attracted universal attention. No less 
 than ten editions were called for in rapid suc- 
 cession, and it undoubtedly served its purpose. 
 Yet in issuing it Mr. Carey was so uncertain as to 
 the effect that it would produce, that he was fully 
 prepared to find the plain-speaking with which he 
 
1 1 
 
 arraigned the violent partisanship of Democrats 
 and Federals, create an antaranism that mio-ht 
 prove disastrous to him. Subsequendy to this he 
 threw himself with equal energy into the debate 
 upon the question then emerging of protecdon to 
 domestic industry. Embracing the cause of the 
 infant manufactures of his adopted land, he soon 
 rendered himself so conspicuous by his writings 
 that in New Orleans some subscribers to his 
 quarto Bible actually refused to receive their 
 copies when they noticed his imprint on the title- 
 page. Perhaps, however, the literary labor which 
 enlisted his warmest sympathies was the produc- 
 tion of his "Vindiciae Hibernicae," in which he 
 sought to jusdfy his native land from the partisan 
 stories accepted in the current English histories. 
 
 In 1817, when Mr. Carey associated with him 
 his eldest son, Henry C. Carey, and four years later 
 his son-in-law, Isaac Lea, the house had already 
 attained the position of the leading one in the 
 publishing trade of the United States. From this 
 time he paid but little attention to business, from 
 which he definitely retired in 1824, devoting his 
 remaining years to public interests, to the benevo- 
 lent enterprises which had always claimed his 
 earnest participation, and to an extended system 
 of organized private charity. In these directions 
 
his activity remained unabated until 1839, when 
 his death, in his eightieth year, was caused by the 
 overturning of his carriage. It is, perhaps, per- 
 missible here to quote the remark of Dr. Allibone 
 in his "Dictionary of English Literature," that 
 "The citizens of the United States will ever owe 
 to Mr. Carey's memory a debt of gratitude for 
 his invaluable labors as a citizen, a politician and a 
 philanthropist." 
 
 When, on the retirement of Mr. Carey, in 1824, 
 the firm of Carey & Lea was established, provision 
 was made for the admission of Edward L. Carey, 
 a younger son, when he should attain his majority. 
 When this took place the firm became Carey, Lea 
 & Carey, but continued only a short time under 
 this name. In 1829 the business was divided. 
 The retail trade, which had hitherto been carried 
 on in conjunction with the publishing department, 
 was taken by Edward L. Carey as his portion, 
 and he entered into partnership with Mr. Abraham 
 Hart, forming the well-known firm of Carey & 
 Hart, still represented by its successors, Messrs. 
 Henry Carey Baird & Co., Mr. Baird being a 
 grandson of Mathew Carey. 
 
 The publishing business, retained by Carey & 
 Lea, continued to prosper and increase, as it well 
 might do under the management of men of such 
 
13 
 
 acknowledged ability. Mr. Henry C. Carey united 
 unusual energy with business capacity. As the 
 leader — perhaps one might say the founder — of a 
 school of political economy, he acquired a world- 
 wide reputation, and his voluminous works have 
 been translated into almost all civilized tongues. 
 He died but a few years since, after having ex- 
 ercised no little influence over the economical 
 policy of the country. Among scientific circles 
 Mr. Isaac Lea's name has enjoyed an equally 
 wide repute. An enthusiastic student of natural 
 history, commencing at a time when he had but 
 few fellow-workers, his contributions to the sci- 
 ences of conchology, geology and mineralogy 
 have been exceedingly numerous and valuable, 
 acquiring for him the membership of innumerable 
 learned societies in both hemispheres. A com- 
 plete bibliography of his scientific papers and 
 memoirs is at present in preparation by the Smith- 
 sonian Institution, for early publication. From 
 1858 to 1863 he was president of the Academy 
 of Natural Sciences, and in i860 he served as 
 president of the American Association of Sci- 
 ence. As a nonagenarian, in the long evening 
 of a well-spent life, he still enjoys the respect and 
 affection of all who have the good fortune of his 
 acquaintance. 
 
To abilities such as these were added in 1833, 
 when the firm became Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 
 the business shrewdness and sagacity of Mr. 
 WiUiam A. Blanchard, who for more than twenty 
 years had been in the employment of the house. 
 Mr. Blanchard's name was not widely known 
 outside of "the trade," but within its ranks there 
 was no one whose opinion on all questions of 
 trade interests and trade policy was listened to 
 with more deference or carried greater weight. 
 In 1836 Mr. Henry C. Carey retired from the 
 firm, which was thenceforth known as Lea & 
 Blanchard until 1851. 
 
 During the earlier portion of this period the 
 house had fully maintained its position as the fore- 
 most one engaged in the publication of general 
 literature. For many years the ''American Quar- 
 terly Review," which it founded under the editor- 
 ship of Robert Walsh, w^as the successful rival of 
 the old "North American," representing the 
 culture of the Middle States, as the latter did 
 that of New England. The house had continued 
 the reprinting of the Waverly Novels, of which 
 the usual price for early sheets was ^75, and it 
 was virtually the American publisher of Sir Walter 
 for whose "Life of Bonaparte" /300 were given, 
 and a similar sum for an early copy of Lockhart's 
 
15 
 
 "Life of Scott." It moreover published all the 
 novels of Fenimore Cooper and the works of 
 Washington Irving, and it numbered among- its 
 list of authors Gilmore Simms, Montgomery Bird, 
 Edgar A. Poe, John P. Kennedy, and many 
 other leading writers of the period. At one time 
 its regular allowance of publications was two 
 novels per week, in addition to works of more 
 solid character, such as the "Encyclopaedia Ameri- 
 cana," the "Encyclopaedia of Geography," "Wilkes' 
 United States' Exploring Expedition," "Campbell's 
 Lord Chancellors and Chief Justices of England," 
 "Strickland's Queens of England," and many 
 others of magnitude and importance. It was the 
 earliest to recognize the o-enius of the writer of 
 the "Pickwick Papers," of which it promptly re- 
 printed the parts as they came out, making 
 arrangements satisfactory to the still comparatively 
 unknown author, and leading to engagements for 
 subsequent works, until Mr. Dickens's disappoint- 
 ment at his failure, during his first visit to America, 
 to effect the enactment of an international copy- 
 right, led him for many years to decline all nego- 
 tiations for early sheets. As an illustration of the 
 obstacles which still, at so comparatively recent a 
 period, attended the transaction of business, it 
 may be mentioned that a letter from Mr. Dickens, 
 
i6 
 
 offering the early sheets of "Master Humphrey's 
 Clock," written in the November of 1839, was for- 
 warded by the old-fashioned mail-packets, running- 
 to Halifax, where, in the absence of direct commu- 
 nication with the United States, it lay till the 
 following February, when it was finally delivered. 
 
 During the decade from 1840 to 1850 the policy 
 of the house was gradually changed. The system 
 of cheap publications, arising from the extreme 
 depression of business between 1839 and 1843, 
 rendered general literature less attractive. It was 
 impossible to sell a work of fiction except in 
 paper, and large stocks of Cooper's Novels, 
 bound in cloth and utterly unsalable, had to be 
 stripped of their covers and be done up in paper 
 to find a market. The house gradually withdrew 
 from enterprises like these; it ceased to publish 
 for Irving, it sold the stereotype plates of Cooper's 
 Novels and Dickens's Works, the Encyclopaedia 
 Americana and many others, and concentrated its 
 attention on a department of the business, which 
 for many years had been steadily growing in 
 importance. 
 
 From a very early period the house had in- 
 cluded the science of medicine within the sphere 
 of its activity, and had issued a number of promi- 
 nent professional works, such as Bell's Anatomy, 
 
17 
 
 Hutin's Physiology, and others. In 1820 it 
 founded the "Philadelphia Journal of the Medical 
 and Physical Sciences," a quarterly periodical, 
 edited by Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, with whom 
 were subsequently associated Drs. Dewees, 
 Godman and Isaac Hays. In 1827 the sphere 
 of the periodical was enlarged from that of a local 
 to that of a national organ of the profession, and 
 under the name of "The American Journal of 
 the Medical Sciences," edited exclusively by Dr. 
 Hays, it commenced the career which has, more 
 perhaps than any other instrumentality, con- 
 tributed to make American medicine known and 
 respected throughout the world. For more than 
 fifty years it continued under the editorial charge 
 of Dr. Hays, until he was removed by death, in 
 1879, ^^^ was succeeded by his son. Dr. I. Minis 
 Hays, who had for ten years been his assistant, 
 and who still continues to superintend what is 
 now, with one exception, the oldest medical peri- 
 odical in the English language. The publication 
 of the "Journal" naturally led to more intimate 
 relations with the leading minds of the profession, 
 and medical works consequently began to form 
 an increasing portion of the issues of the house. 
 The writings of Wistar, Chapman, Coxe, Horner, 
 Gibson, Dewees, Dunorlison, Meiers, Hodore, and. 
 
in fact, of nearly all the prominent medical writers 
 of the period, came to be included in its list of 
 publications. In 1843 a monthly periodical, "The 
 Medical News," was commenced, which, altered 
 to a weekly in 1882, is also now one of the most 
 prominent organs of the medical profession. 
 Numerous republications of English medical 
 works and translations of the more conspicuous 
 ones from the continental lancruao-es, followed 
 in rapid succession, and the attention of the 
 house becoming concentrated on this depart- 
 ment of its business, it gradually abandoned all 
 the others. In fact, as the populadon and business 
 of the country increased, the leading position 
 which the house had so long enjoyed could most 
 readily be maintained by confining its attention to 
 one branch of the trade, in which it easily pre- 
 served its supremacy. 
 
 In 1 85 1 Mr. Isaac Lea redred in favor of his 
 son, Mr. Henry Charles Lea, who had since 1843 
 been actively employed in the business, and the 
 style of the firm was changed to Blanchard & 
 Lea. Faithful to the traditions of culture in his 
 family, the younger Mr. Lea has made himself 
 known abroad as well as at home, by various 
 historical works requiring much research. During 
 the war he aided in all movements to render it 
 
effective, and since then he has been engaged in 
 the various efforts to elevate and purify the 
 poHtical life of the nation, without, however, 
 forfeiting his character as an assiduous and labori- 
 ous man of business. 
 
 The partnership of Blanchard & Lea continued 
 until 1865, when Mr. Blanchard retired after a 
 connection with the house which had lasted for 
 more than half a century. He was succeeded by 
 his son Henry, and the firm again became Lea & 
 Blanchard for a few months, when ill health com- 
 pelled the younger Mr. Blanchard to withdraw. 
 The business was then carried on by Mr. Lea 
 alone, under his own name, until 1880. The 
 house had never lost a partner by death, all its 
 members having successively withdrawn in season 
 to enjoy the fruits of well-directed industry. Mr. 
 Lea formed no exception to this rule, and In 1880 
 he abandoned active participation in the cares of 
 business, remaining as a special partner in the 
 firm then formed, of Henry C. Lea's Son & Co., 
 consisting of Mr. Charles M. Lea, the fourth In 
 descent from Mathew Carey, Mr. Henry M. 
 Barnes, who had been connected with the house 
 for more than forty years, and Mr. Christian C. 
 Feblger, who had entered its service In 1865. 
 This partnership lasted until January, 1885, when, 
 
20 
 
 on the final retirement of Mr. Henry C. Lea, 
 and the admission of a younger son, Mr. Arthur 
 H. Lea, the present firm of Lea Brothers & Co. 
 was established. For a continuation of the pros- 
 perity which has now, for a century, never failed 
 to accompany the operations of the house, the pre- 
 sent firm relies upon a maintenance of its traditions 
 of honorable dealing and unflagging industry. 
 
 In reviewing this long and active career, reach- 
 ing to the fourth generation, the highest source 
 of satisfaction is found in the reflection that the 
 house has always recognized the moral responsi- 
 bility attaching to the nature of its business. It 
 has never sought gain in pandering to a depraved 
 public taste, but has always endeavored to aid in 
 the diffusion of intellicrence, and in furtherinor the 
 higher education of the community. It has de- 
 rived its chief gratification from the conviction 
 that the extension of its business was likewise 
 the extension of knowledge ; and, in its issues, 
 it has steadily kept in view its motto — ''Quae pro- 
 SMiit omnibus y It has ever entertained a high 
 sense of respect for its own imprint, and has felt 
 a just pride in the belief that its name on a title- 
 page was in some sort an indication of the worthi- 
 ness of the volume in which it appeared. 
 
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