(
This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The World's Progress; An Index to Universal History and a Cyclopaedia of Facts, Dates and General Information, Being a Chronological and Alphabetical ... from the Creation of the World to The...
(
This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
American Facts. Notes and Statistics Relative to the Government, Resources, Engagements, Manufactures, Commerce, Religion, Education, Literature, Fine ... and Customs of the United States of America
(
This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
George Palmer Putnam was an American book publisher. He served as secretary for the Publishers' Association for many years and was an advocate of the creation of International Copyright Law.
Background
George Palmer was born on February 7, 1814 in Brunswick, Maine, United States, the fourth child of Henry and Catherine Hunt (Palmer) Putnam and the descendant of John Putnam, originally probably Puttenham, who before 1641 emigrated from Buckinghamshire, England, to Salem, Massachussets. Owing to his father's lack of health, a large part of the family income was derived from a coeducational school managed by his mother.
Education
His own formal education ceased, however, when at the age of eleven Putnam was apprenticed to John Gulliver, a Boston carpet merchant. He educated himself and read regularly in the Mercantile Library until closing time and took books home to read until one or two in the morning.
Career
In 1829 George Palmer Putnam removed to New York, where he worked as errand boy and sweeper in a book store at $25 a year and board. Later he began his historical manual, Chronology, or an Introduction and Index to Universal History (1833), which sold out an edition of a thousand copies, was revised, and went through many editions as The World's Progress, and part of which was printed as Putnam's Handbook of Universal History as late as 1927. In 1833 he became an employee of the firm of Wiley & Long, which in 1840 became Wiley & Putnam.
After his marriage he settled in London and opened in Paternoster Row an agency for the sale of American books in England, thus laying the foundation for a relation to the British book trade that was to prove important in the family publishing business for three generations. The Putnam home became a gathering place for publishers and for revolutionary refugees from the Continent, whose number included Mazzini and Louis Napoleon, later Napoleon III. Impressed by the British misunderstanding of American problems he compiled a volume of American Facts (1845), designed to improve Anglo-American relations.
He also served as correspondent for the New York newspapers, the New World, Commercial Advertiser, and Evening Post, endeavoring especially to make the Americans of that day understand the ignominy of their wholesale repudiation of state bonds. In 1853 he began publication of Putnam's Monthly Magazine, which broke away from the customary use of foreign reprint and depended on American material. The panic of 1857, coupled with the revelation that an associate had played fast and loose with the firm's financial affairs, very nearly ruined him. He was compelled to suspend his magazine and to assign his business.
He was able, however, to begin business again, partly at least by the generosity of his life-long friend, Washington Irving, who bought the plates of his own works and returned them to Putnam. This action led Bayard Taylor and other authors to stand by Putnam in his difficulties. His unsigned "Recollections of Irving" in the Atlantic Monthly (November 1860) reflected his pleasure in Irving's companionship and his gratitude for Irving's friendship.
The Civil War, however, made publishing so difficult that he turned over his books to Hurd & Houghton, who printed and sold them on commission from 1862 to 1866. During the early part of the war, he planned with Frank Moore a series called The Rebellion Record (1861-68). He had been made collector of internal revenue for the eighth district of New York and was thus under no financial strain, in spite of business difficulties. In 1866 he was removed from office by President Johnson after he had indignantly refused to pay a political assessment on office-holders, but on removal he was officially commended by the secretary of the treasury.
He returned to publishing, established the firm of G. P. Putnam & Son in 1866, and in 1871 adopted the name of G. P. Putnam & Sons. Putnam's Magazine was reestablished in 1868, ran for six more volumes, and in 1870 was merged into Scribner's Monthly.
(
This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
Personality
Putnam was a singularly scrupulous publisher of high personal and professional standards, suffering at times from his tendency to estimate public taste too highly.
Connections
On March 13, 1841, Putnam was married to Victorine Haven, then sixteen, whom he had met while she was a pupil in his mother's school. Among their eleven children were Mary Corinna (Putnam) Jacobi, Ruth and George Haven Putnam.