Background
He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 31st of December 1817. His father was a sea captain and died in 1819. Thus Fields and his brother were brought up by their mother and their aunt Mary and uncle George.
(Excerpt from A Few Verses for a Few Friends Give him a p...)
Excerpt from A Few Verses for a Few Friends Give him a place to lay his regal head, Give him a tomb beside his brothers gone, Give him a tablet for his deeds and name. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(Poems by James Thomas Fields. This book is a reproductio...)
Poems by James Thomas Fields. This book is a reproduction of the original book published in 1849 and may have some imperfections such as marks or hand-written notes.
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(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.
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He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 31st of December 1817. His father was a sea captain and died in 1819. Thus Fields and his brother were brought up by their mother and their aunt Mary and uncle George.
After a brief schooling he found work at the Old Corner Bookstore in Boston. He was later apprenticed to publishers Carter and Hendee. Fields had his first poetry published in 1837. Two years later he joined with William Ticknor to establish the publishing and bookselling firm known as Ticknor and Fields. According to Philip McFarland: "He (Fields) became known for being likable, for his ability to find creative talent, and for his ability to promote authors and win their loyalty. " James Fields met Charles Dickens in Boston in 1842. In 1842 Ticknor and Fields became the first American publisher to pay foreign writers for their works. In 1851 he published the first of the twenty-two volumes of De Quincey's collected essays and magazine articles. Ticknor and Fields purchased The Atlantic Monthly for $10, 000 in 1859. Two years later he took over the editorship from James Russell Lowell. He later employed William Dean Howells as assistant editor of the magazine. William Ticknor died on 10th April, 1864. Howard M. Ticknor, took over from his father but Fields now became the major figure in the company. On 12th November, 1864, Fields sold the Old Corner Bookstore and moved the publishing house to 124 Tremont Street. Ticknor eventually sold his share of the business to James R. Osgood. In March 1867, Fields agreed a deal with Charles Dickens to publish a fourteen volume edition of his works. In 1868 the business became Fields, Osgood, and Company, recognizing James R. Osgood. On New Year's Day, 1871, Fields announced his retirement at a small gathering of friends.
No longer involved with editorial duties, he then devoted himself to lecturing and writing. He also edited, with Edwin Percy Whipple, A Family Library of British Poetry (1878).
Fields became increasingly popular as a lecturer throughout the 1870s. In May 1879, Fields suffered a brain hemorrhage and collapsed before a scheduled lecture at Wellesley College. By autumn he seemed to have recovered. In January 1881, he gave what would be his final public lecture, coincidentally at the Mercantile Library Association, the organization which hosted his first public reading. Fields died in Boston on April 24, 1881. He is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Fields was known in his lifetime as one of the most successful and shrewd book promoters, working at a time when bribery was typical in the publishing culture. His chief works were the collection of sketches and essays entitled Underbrush (1877) and the chapters of reminiscence composing Yesterdays with Authors (1871), in which he recorded his personal friendship with William Wordsworth, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville and others.
After Fields's death, his friend Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem called "Auf Wiedersehen" dedicated to him. Fields, along with Longfellow, is featured in the first and third of Matthew Pearl's novels, The Dante Club (2003) and The Last Dickens (2009). Fields is also mentioned in the 1994 film version of Little Women.
(Excerpt from A Few Verses for a Few Friends Give him a p...)
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
(Poems by James Thomas Fields. This book is a reproductio...)
Quotations:
"How sweet and gracious, even in common speech, Is that fine sense which men call Courtesy! Wholesome as air and genial as the light, Welcome in every clime as breath of flowers, It transmutes aliens into trusting friends, And gives its owner passport round the globe. "
"A farmer travelling with his load Picked up a horseshoe on the road, And nailed if fast to his barn door, That luck might down upon him pour; That every blessing known in life Might crown his homestead and his wife, And never any kind of harm Descend upon his growing farm. "
"Is n't God upon the ocean Just the same as on the land?"
"Just then, with a wink and a sly normal lurch, The owl very gravely got down from his perch, Walked round, and regarded his fault-finding critic (Who thought he was stuffed) with a glance analytic. "
"The man who tells me an indelicate story does me an injury. "
"Courtesy gives its owner a passport round the world. It transmutes aliens into trusting friends. "
"Oh, to be home again, home again, home again!
Under the apple-boughs, down by the mill!"
"What we sow in youth we reap in age; the seed of the thistle always produces the thistle. "
"Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but all who come in contact with it. "
"Let heaven-eyed Prudence battle with Desire. "
Quotes from others about the person
As author Rebecca Harding Davis said, he was "the shrewdest of publishers and kindest of men. He was the wire that conducted the lightning so that it never struck amiss. "
Fields was engaged to marry Mary Willard. However, she died of tuberculosis on 17th April 1845. He then transferred his attentions to her younger sister. He married the 18-year old sister Eliza Willard on 13th March, 1850. She was also suffering from tuberculosis and died four months later. Fields, distraught by the death of his wife, he travelled to around Europe. In 1854, Fields married the Annie Adams.
