D. Appleton & Company

American publishing company

D. Appleton-Century Co. (1933–1948)
Appleton-Century-Crofts (1948)

Country of originUnited StatesHeadquarters locationNew York City, U.S.Key people

William Henry Appleton
George Swett Appleton

D. Appleton & Company was an American publishing company founded by Daniel Appleton, who opened a general store which included books. He published his first book in 1831. The company's publications gradually extended over the entire field of literature. It issued the works of contemporary scientists, including those of Herbert Spencer, John Tyndall, Thomas Huxley, Charles Darwin, and others, at reasonable prices. Medical books formed a special department, and books in the Spanish language for the South America market were a specialty which the firm made its own. In belles lettres and American history, it had a strong list of names among its authors.^[2]

Timeline

1813 Relocated from Haverhill to Boston and imported books from England
1825 Relocated New York City and entered the book business with brother-in-law Jonathan Leavitt^[1]
1831 Published first book: Crumbs from the Master's Table^[3] by William Mason (1719–1791)
1848 Daniel Appleton retired; son William Henry Appleton (1814–1899) formed a partnership with his brothers, John Adams Appleton (1817–1881), George Swett Appleton (1821–1878), Daniel Sidney Appleton (1824–1890) and Samuel Francis Appleton (1826–1883)
1849 Death of Daniel Appleton
1857 First New York trade publisher to engage in subscription publishing
1869 Appleton's Journal started
1872 Popular Science Monthly magazine and International Scientific Series started by editor Edward L. Youmans^[4]
1875 Original publication of the memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman, one of the first such publications by a Civil War general
1881 Relocated from Leonard Street and Broadway, to Bond Street, New York City; Journal becomes Appleton's Magazine
1890 Co-founded American Book Company, a conglomerate including D. Appleton & Company
1894 Published Songs of the Soil by Frank Lebby Stanton
1900 Filed for bankruptcy and sold Popular Science; re-organized by Joseph H. Sears of Harper's
1905 Appleton's Magazine renamed Appleton's Booklovers Magazine
1919 J. W. Hiltman named president
1924 Purchased Stewart and Kidd, founded in 1914
1931 Published I Sailed with Chinese Pirates by Aleko E. Lilius
1933 Merged with The Century Company, founded in 1881, to form the Appleton-Century Company
1945 Sold hymn books department to Revell Publishing
1948 Merged with F. S. Crofts Co., founded in 1924, to form Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Publishing highlights

Taylor, Fitch Waterman (1840). The Flag-ship: Or, A Voyage Around the World in the United States Frigate Columbia... Vol. 2 of The Flag Ship, Or: A Voyage Around the World, in the United States Frigate Columbia, Attended by Her Consort the Sloop of War John Adams, and Bearing the Broad Pennant of Commodore George C. Read, Fitch Waterman Taylor. D. Appleton and Company. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, 1895
Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris, 1880
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, 1865, first U.S. edition
Appletons' Cyclopædia of Biography in 1 volume, 1856, edited by Francis L. Hawks, added American biographies to the volume edited by Elihu Rich and published in 1854 by Richard Griffin & Company (London).
Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography in 6 volumes, 1887, edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske
Appleton's Railroad and Steamboat Guide, 1847
New American Cyclopedia in 16 volumes, edited by George Ripley and Charles Anderson Dana, 1857–1863; revised and enlarged as American Cyclopedia (1873–1876)
Progress and Poverty 1880
Annual Cyclopedia for the years 1861–1901, annual
Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia 1893, in 8 volumes edited by Charles Kendall Adams. The rights were acquired from Alvin J. Johnson & Co.
Universal Cyclopaedia 1900, in 12 volumes derived from Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia. Edited by Charles Kendall Adams, and from 1902 by Rossiter Johnson, with title Universal Cyclopaedia and Atlas
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, 1889–1891, New Century Dictionary 1927–c. 1963
Picturesque America by William Cullen Bryant, 1872
Unabridged English Dictionary 1859
works of Jonathan Edwards, 1834 (1703–1758)
science works of Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
Diseases of the Heart and Arterial System, by Dr. Robert Hall Babcock (1903)
Diseases of the Lungs by Dr. Robert Hall Babcock (1907)
Memoirs of William Tecumseh Sherman (1820—1891)
The Works of Rudyard Kipling [Authorized Editions] 15 Volumes (1899)
literary works of Henry James (1843–1916)
art works of Edith Wharton (1862–1937)
architectural works of Stanford White (d. 1906)
Gems of British Art, 1857
work of Thomas Henry Huxley, 1880
From the Manger to the Throne 1880—1889 by REV. T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D.
American Negro Slavery by Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, 1918
The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government by Jefferson Davis
A Journey in Other Worlds by John Jacob Astor

Gallery

Appletons' bookshop, 346 & 348 Broadway, New York, 1856
Appletons' Railway and Steam Navigation Guide, 1867
Display of D. Appleton & Co. stereoscopic views and implements, 1870s
Robbins & Appleton Building, New York, built 1880 (photo 2010)

References

^ ^a ^b "Century to Merge with Appleton & Co.; Two of the Oldest Publishing Houses in Nation Being United by Stockholders. Hiltman to be Chairman W.M. Shuster Will Be President of New Company — Project Long Under Consideration. (Published 1933)". The New York Times. March 18, 1933. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
^ Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Appleton, Daniel" . Encyclopedia Americana.
^ "1831---House of Appleton". Major American Publishers. The Hyde Park Book Store. February 7, 2012. Archived from the original on May 19, 2006. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
^ International Scientific Series (D. Appleton & Co.) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 7 July 2023.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to D. Appleton & Company.

Appleton-Century MSS
NYPL. Portraits of William H. Appleton, Daniel Appleton, founder, John A. Appleton, George Appleton, Daniel Sidney Appleton.
Library of Congress. Photo, 2007. Second Floor Corridor. Printers' marks+Columns. Printer's mark of D. Appleton and Co. in North Corridor. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.
"Appleton, Daniel" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. This has information on the firm's evolution.
Open Library. D. Appleton and Company
Finding aid to D. Appleton and Co. Correspondence at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.