The Bay State Monthly, Vol. II, No. 6, March, 1885 by Various

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[Illustration: William Lee (Signature)]

THE BAY STATE MONTHLY.

_A Massachusetts Magazine_.

VOL. II.

MARCH, 1885.

No. 6.

* * * * *

LEE AND SHEPARD.

By George L. Austin, M.D.

For a quarter of a century the firm-name of Lee and Shepard has been
familiar to the public. During this interval of time it has been printed
upon millions of volumes, which have gone forth on their two-fold
mission of instruction and entertainment. Few publishing houses in
America have achieved a more honorable record, or have more indelibly
left their impress of good intentions and of deeds nobly done upon the
minds of increasing generations. It is of the individual members of this
firm, both of whom have grown gray in the business, that I purpose to
speak in this article. First of the senior partner of the house.

Born at the "North End," in Boston, on the seventeenth of April, 1826;
early put to school, and taken out of it at the age of eleven, at which
time he was left fatherless, the eldest of six children; with a good
mother to whisper words of encouragement in his ear, when everything in
the world and the future before him looked dark,--such was the start of
William Lee in life. Thousands before him, and since, have had the same
infelicitous experience; but how few have had the courage to overcome
the obstacles which he succeeded in overcoming? While other young men of
his age, many of them his playmates, were planning to fit themselves, by
a long course of study, for the duties of life, he was at once
confronted with the duties and burdens of life, without such advantages
as an education affords, and he met them with a manliness and a
self-reliance which now seem truly marvelous. I have often heard him
tell of these early days; but I will pass by the recollections for fear
that the recital of them might discourage many who read these lines.

After leaving school young William was offered a situation in the
bookstore of Samuel G. Drake, then located at No. 56 Cornhill. Mr. Drake
was himself a famous "book-worm," was familiar with the authorities and
the history of Boston, and, in after life, achieved a reputation as an
author. He was what one would term now an "old-fashioned bookseller,"
but what he did not know of the book trade in his day was not worth
knowing. William Lee entered his employ for two purposes--to learn the
trade and, in a very small way, to help support the family which was, in
a large sense, dependent upon him. During the three years of his
apprenticeship he showed himself an apt scholar, a patient worker, and
gifted with indomitable will and ambition.

The next two years were passed in the country. On returning to Boston he
again entered a book store, and, when eighteen years of age, he became a
clerk in the then prosperous publishing house of Phillips and Sampson,
located on Winter street. His connection with this house afforded him
increased advantages; he was no longer an apprentice filling a menial
position, but was conscious of occupying a responsible station in the
business, where his integrity and intelligence were appreciated at their
real value. He enjoyed the fullest confidence of his employers, and was
soon looked upon by them as their "best" clerk. Selling by auction,
especially in the evenings, was at that time a leading feature of the
trade, and William Lee soon became an expert in that way, as well as in
the general character of salesman to the country trade. There was
scarcely a detail in the book trade with which he did not make himself
personally familiar; he sought to post himself upon the character and
contents of every book that was kept in stock, in order that he might be
able to speak intelligently of them to his customers. This habit of
general familiarization is one which, in the lapse of subsequent years,
has proved of incalculable service to him; it is one which cannot be too
earnestly commended to the attention of all young men who are to-day
"working" up in the trade.

At the age of twenty-one William Lee was allowed a share in the
business, and three years later he accepted an equal partnership in the
house. When it is remembered that at this time the house of Phillips and
Sampson stood foremost as publishers in New England, the fact that, at
the age of twenty-four, William Lee became an equal partner in this
house is certainly striking. It bears but one explanation: William Lee
owed his remarkable success to the talent which was born and bred in
him, and to the consciousness of self-reliance, with which his
employers, first and last, had inspired him. There is nothing in this
life which will so readily develop the best qualities of manhood as a
sense of responsibility, first to the individual himself and next to
those whom he serves. Take away this sense of responsibility, every man
becomes a machine; everything that he does is mechanical.

In the firm of Phillips, Sampson and Company Mr. Lee continued as a
partner for seven years. To his energy and industry the prosperity of
the house was henceforth largely indebted. For twelve, and sometimes
fifteen hours a day, he remained faithfully at his round of duties.

In 1857 Mr. Lee's health gave way, and his physician ordered him to
relinquish all cares of business. Acting in accordance with this advice,
he sold his interest to his partners for sixty-five thousand dollars,
taking the notes of the firm for that amount. After a few months of
travel in his own country, he sailed for Europe in June, 1858, in
company with Willard Small, with the intention of spending five years on
the continent. He proved to be a good traveler; his keen observation
encompassed everything; his generous heart and the geniality of his
nature won to him many friends. Ere many months had elapsed he had
traversed England, France, Germany, Belgium, and Spain.

While he was in Paris, an incident occured, the recollection of which
has served to enliven many a social occasion. It was the exciting time
succeeding the attempted assassination of Napoleon by Orsini. Mr. Lee
always wore a long, sandy beard, and in his travels sported a soft,
broad-brimmed hat. One day, while walking about the streets, he was
arrested and taken to the Palais de Justice. Explanations and
expostulations proved unavailing. The prisoner was declared to be a "red
Republican," and, in those days, that was no joke. It was only after the
production of a passport and the interference of the United States
consul, that the authorities were induced to release their captive.

Mr. Lee was in Paris, and was on the point of making a second journey
into Spain, when the United States mail brought him a letter, conveying
the tidings of the death of both Mr. Phillips and Mr. Sampson, and the
failure of the house.

The panic of 1857 had made sad havoc with the book trade generally, and
those firms which weathered the storm were sorely pressed. Phillips and
Sampson met with heavy losses, but struggled on in the hope of
recovering lost ground. But, in 1859, the death of the senior members of
the firm seemed to paralyze its prosperity, and the worst quickly
followed.

Mr. Lee had received no warning of the impending calamity, and for the
time was much overcome by the announcement. He foresaw what it implied,
however, and at once returned to Boston, to find himself a heavy loser
by the financial disaster.

Still undaunted, he gathered up what remained of his fortune and, in
February, 1860, he became a member of the firm of Crosby, Nichols and
Company, which had purchased many of the stereotype plates belonging to
the late firm of Phillips, Sampson and Company, and which now took the
name of Crosby, Nichols, Lee and Company. But the long stagnation of
trade, succeeded by losses in the southern states, consequent upon the
political troubles of those days, bore heavily upon the new firm; and,
in the spring of 1861, Mr. Lee left the business and again trod the
streets of Boston without a dollar that he could call his own! Thus,
after twenty years of business activity, his fortune was gone, and
nothing remained for him to do except to begin life over again.

During the next few months Mr. Lee surveyed the field about him,
endeavoring to discern what could be accomplished with no other capital
save brains. A decision was soon reached, and it resulted from one of
those little incidents of life, which, although rare indeed, make life
all the more worth living. I hope I betray no breach of trust in
recalling it.

While walking down Washington street one day Mr. Lee encountered his
friend of many years.

"What are you doing now, Charlie?" he asked.

"Nothing; and I'm as poor as a church mouse," was the reply.

"But, look here, Charlie, keep up your courage. I haven't got much
myself; but I'll go halves with you. Come up to my room to-night, and
we'll talk matters over."

The friends parted, to meet again within a few hours in the glow of the
gas-light. Affairs were candidly and earnestly discussed, plans were
laid, and then and there began the firm, whose reputation has extended
wherever the English language is spoken,--the house of LEE AND SHEPARD.

It was February 1, 1862. The times were not propitious for a beginning
at any trade, but the partners were veterans in experience, and no
sooner had they shaped their plans than the public in many ways evinced
its confidence in their undertaking. Better than a large capital was the
encouragement they received from all with whom they had formerly had
dealings; and they began under the most pleasing auspices.

The firm first occupied a very old, two-storied wooden building, known
as "the old dye-house" on Washington Street, opposite the Old South
"Church."[A]

[Footnote A: On the site now occupied by the "Old South Clothing
House."]

Of course the store soon began to show its incapacity for the growing
business, just as the "old corner" had done in the case of Ticknor and
Fields, and as almost every ancient book-shop has done in the last
quarter of a century. The proprietors of the establishment were not only
their own employers, but their own employees as well. They attended to
their own book-keeping, did their own selling and buying, tied up their
bundles and packed all the cases. Early and late they shouldered their
task, and started ahead. After three years thus spent the firm moved
into the new store at 149 Washington Street, which still remains, and
which the firm continued to occupy until 1873.

At this point it is convenient to go back a number of years and recount
the principal events in the life of the junior partner of the house:
Charles A.B. Shepard.

If the boy could have had his own way, when he started in life, the
chances are that to-day he would be an American admiral. As it happened,
his early passion and proclivities were not fostered; he became a
bookseller whom all the world now knows as "Charley Shepard."

He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, October 18th, 1829, and received
his education at the public school. He was one of the brightest scholars
in his class, learned easily, was fond of books, never wearied of study,
and never forgot what he acquired. At the start he was blest with a most
marvelous and retentive memory, and a keen sense of the practical side
of life. "It was thus," as one of his friends has remarked, "that his
school days were profitable to him to a degree not common, and it was
thus that his rapidly-growing literary attainments became the
astonishment of strangers and the never failing delight and surprise of
his friends."

Mr. Shepard's father was a sea-faring man, who, however, took good care
to check every inclination towards that sort of life that existed in the
mind of his son, at a very tender age. At his business start, therefore,
the boy was forced into a channel that was not of his own choosing. At
the age of fifteen, after having previously tried his skill as a boy of
all work in the grocery business, he entered the store of John P.
Jewett, a bookseller at Salem. He remained with Mr. Jewett eleven years,
during which time he forgot all about the details of the West India
trade and instead acquired a perfect knowledge of those of the making
and selling of books. When, in 1846, Mr. Jewett removed to Boston and
opened a store on Cornhill, Mr. Shepard accompanied him, and by his
untiring energy, his close application to business and his intelligent
way of conducting the affairs of the house in general, very largely
contributed to the success which, in those days, was accounted so
remarkable. He was even then looked upon as the "hardest worker" in the
trade. He was the first to enter the store in the morning, and the last
to leave at night. To many, it seemed as if his hours were only hours
of toil; and yet, few young men of his age took life so easily as did
he, or got more enjoyment out of it. It was during Mr. Shepard's
connection with the house of John P. Jewett that "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
first saw the light. The story of its publication has so often been told
that it need not be repeated here. Mr. Shepard recalls all the incidents
associated with it as vividly to-day as though they were but events of
yesterday, and he is now the only living man that can tell them. As
everybody knows, the book bounded into success, due as much to the
shrewd advertising of the publisher as to the merits of the work itself.
It redounds to the credit of Mr. Jewett that he never hesitated to
acknowledge that whatever success he had as a Boston publisher was
largely due to his sprightly clerk, who labored literally night and day,
to master every detail of the business.

[Illustration: Charles A.B. Shepard (Signature)]

In 1855 Mr. Shepard conceived the idea of starting in business for
himself, and formed a co-partnership which was known to the trade as
Shepard, Clark and Brown. It flourished until the panic of 1857 swept
over the country. Reverses came, and the house was forced to give up.

In 1862, as I have said, the firm of Lee and Shepard was started in
business, with no other capital save that of brain and muscle. The two
partners had long and favorably known one another. While strangely
dissimilar in tastes, they yet exhibited many points in common. At the
start, both were financially poor men; they possessed no funds, but, by
virtue of their well known integrity and ability to succeed, could
readily command the little which they required to begin life anew. Mr.
Shepard, as well as Mr. Lee, had made himself indispensable to every
firm with which he had been connected. Each had a wide circle of
friends, and each was trusted by his friends. Both men had been generous
in prosperity, and their good deeds, though known only to their intimate
friends and the objects of their benevolence, were not trumpeted for
worldly admiration. Both enjoyed a wide acquaintanceship with authors,
and with books, with dealers, and with the public, and both had strong
likes and dislikes, which made them as radical in politics as they were
in personal affairs. In the firm, each has always had his own duties to
perform, on the wise plan of a fitting division of labor. Yet while each
partner seems exclusively to occupy his own field, independent of and
unrestricted by the other, it rarely happens that there are any
cross-purposes between them. The wheels of progress move on with
unswerving and unerring progress; the law of compensation which is
dominant in the establishment is always working aright.

Strangers who are for the first time brought in contract with these men,
whether socially or on matters of business, invariably detect the strong
points of conservatism which each exhibits. Mr. Lee gives one the
impression of being a well-read man, as, in fact, he is. The faculty
which he possesses of curiously gleaning the salient bits of knowledge
out of current thought and expression, is something remarkable. The
by-paths of literature are peculiarly his stamping-ground; and yet, upon
almost every subject of important character, he will chat for hours
intelligently and interestingly.

Mr. Shepard shows many of the same qualities. His brain is exceedingly
fertile of ideas, his memory perfectly marvelous, his language pointed,
easy-flowing and abounding in wit and humor. He exhibits singular
quickness at repartee; he is fond of a joke, and will give and take with
the keenest sense of enjoyment. His familiarity with standard literature
serves him many a good turn; he makes it a duty to read thoroughly or to
"dip into" every new book that is talked about. He fortifies himself,
whether for daily life or for social intercourse, with all the
intellectual weapons, so to speak, that can ever be called into play.
Still, he moves along the pathway of life thoroughly without
affectation; a "liberal education" seems to have been his by
inheritance, and he can make better use of it than most college men with
whom he is brought in contact.

It is as impossible for Mr. Shepard not to quote poetry as it is for him
to fly through the air and his facility in so doing would alone make him
a marked man. His whole soul is full of poesy, ever restless and
exuberant. I am not aware that he ever molded a rhyme, or sung a measure
of song in all his life. And yet so tenacious is his memory, so
wonderful his talent in applying the epigrammatic utterances of the
leading writers, both old and new, that a person, on being made
cognizant of the fact, finds himself puzzled. Poetry enters into even
the driest details of Mr. Shepard's business life. The signature to a
check is often audibly accompanied by some melodic couplet. Anywhere and
everywhere, and for everything that happens or may happen, the poetic
spice is rarely wanting. Mr. Shepard does not deliberately intend this
to be so; the gift rallies into utterance before he is aware of it, and
he can no more suppress it than he can turn back the roaring waters of
Niagara.

Possessed of such qualities as these, Mr. Shepard very easily finds
friends and is the centre of their attraction. Outspoken, sometimes even
to bluntness, a bitter hater of duplicity and meanness, a keen detector
of counterfeit character, on the one hand; on the other, warm in his
affections, generous to a fault, faithful to those whom he
admires,--such is the man of whom I write. No one is ever at a loss to
discover whether Mr. Shepard is his friend or his enemy.

Mr. Shepard has been intimately connected with the politics of his time.
He began as a thorough, out-and-out abolitionist; during the war he was
a stanch Republican, and a firm admirer of Charles Sumner. When the
great Senator forsook his party, Mr. Shepard chose the same course, and
to-day finds him enrolled upon the Democratic side, although, for some
years back, he has taken no active interest in any political movement of
the day.

Such, in brief, is Charles A.B. Shepard, a man better known, perhaps,
than any other among the book trade of this country, everywhere popular,
and nowhere more truly so than among those who are brought daily in
contact with him and who know him best.

The firm of Lee and Shepard removed from 149 Washington street, in 1873,
to a new building, which, replacing the one which had been destroyed in
the great Boston fire, now stands on the south-east corner of Franklin
and Hawley street. In these commodious and sumptuously-fitted quarters
the firm tarried until their removal, in January of the present year, to
their new quarters at No. 10 Milk street, adjoining the "old South."
Here they have evidently settled down to stay, perhaps for the remaining
years of their joint business life.

When they started in the "old dye-house" it was simply as booksellers.
They owned no stereotyped plates, and for some weeks had no thought of
entering into any business relations with authors. One day Mr. Shepard
chanced to make a social call upon Mr. Samuel C. Perkins, formerly
associated with Phillips, Sampson and Company, who, after their failure,
had become possessed of some stereotype plates. During the conversation
Mr. Perkins recalled the fact, and asked Mr. Shepard to take them off
his hands. The wherewithall to purchase was wanting; but Mr. Shepard,
conscious of what he was doing, decided to buy them, giving the firm's
notes in payment. These plates included those of Oliver Optic's "Boat
Club Series," in six volumes, and those of the "Riverdale Stories" in
twelve volumes. Mr. Lee approved the transaction, and the firm at once
brought out a new edition of both series. They met with a quick sale;
indeed, so wonderful was their success that the author, who was then a
Boston school teacher, was summoned and commissioned to prepare a series
of books for girls. From that time down to the present day, the pen of
"Oliver Optic" has been busily employed in behalf of the American youth.
He has produced, besides the series already named, the "Army and Navy
stories," in six volumes; the "Great Western series," in six volumes;
the "Lake Shore series," in six volumes; the "Onward and Upward series,"
in six volumes; the "Starry Flag series," in six volumes; the "Woodville
Stories," and the "Yacht Club series," each in six volumes; and two
series of six volumes each, entitled "Young America abroad." Hundreds of
thousands of copies have been sold of these books, and the demand for
them to-day is almost as large as it was ten or fifteen years ago. It is
no exaggeration to say that there is scarcely a young man or woman now
living who has not read and profitted by one or more of Oliver Optic's
stories.

Among the other successful writers whom Lee and Shepard brought into
notice was Miss Rebecca S. Clark, known the world over by her pseudonym
of "Sophie May." Her first book was "Little Prudy," which achieved a
reputation not surpassed by that of Miss Alcott's "Little Women." This
first volume was rapidly succeeded by others by the same author, which
in turn won favor, and are now grouped in the catalogue in series,
namely: "Little Prudy Series," "Little Prudy's Flyaway Series," "Dotty
Dimple Series," and "Flaxie Frizzle Stories," each comprising six
volumes. All of these books grew into the people's hearts, and ere long
the newspapers noticed them, the magazines devoted large space to
reviewing them, and the stately and sober-minded "North American
Review," in a characteristic article, from Colonel Higginson's pen was
led to say of their merits:

"Genius comes in with 'Little Prudy.' Compared with her, all other
book-children are cold creations of literature only; she alone is the
real thing, all the quaintness of childhood, its originality, its
tenderness and its teasing, its infinite unconscious drollery, the
serious earnestness of its fun, the fun of its seriousness, the natural
religion of its plays and the delicious oddity of its prayers--all these
waited for dear Little Prudy to embody them."

Such a verdict, from so exalted authority, has had its effect. The
demand for Sophie May's books has been almost unprecedented. Inspired by
her success in this line the author has also written several volumes for
older readers, and they, too, have proved successful.

Another author, who has held a prominent place in the firm's catalogue,
is Mr. George M. Baker. Although he has done much for the entertainment
of the young people in the line of story-telling, his greatest success
has been found in his series of amateur dramatic books, which have long
ago become standard. I would not undertake to mention how many "plays"
he has written; but to simply read the "mail orders" for such literature
or watch customers as they come and go from "headquarters," would
incline everybody to believe that he had produced about all that are
ever needed.

Lee and Shepard's catalogue embraces the names of a great many authors,
to even enumerate which would require much space in this magazine. Among
the more prominent I will call to mind the Rev. Asa Bullard, Professor
James De Mille, Miss Amanda M. Douglass, who has written some of the
best stories in American literature for older readers; the Rev. Elijah
Kellogg, the author of many bright and wholesome stories for youth; Mr.
J.T. Trowbridge, who is known everywhere; the "Rev. Petroleum V. Nasby,"
whom President Lincoln termed the _third_ power in crushing the
rebellion; Charles Sumner, the edition of whose works, published by this
house, was thought worthy of award at the Philadelphia exhibition;
Francis H. Underwood, who first suggested the "Atlantic Monthly"
magazine, and is one of the most genial and scholarly of American
writers; Colonel T.W. Higginson, who has produced a number of pleasant
books, and is the author of the most popular school History of the
United States ever written; B.P. Shillaber (Mrs. Partington), and a host
of other names, which the lack of space forbids me to mention.

In the making of books Lee and Shepard have shown an _originality_,
which has always been noticeable. In more ways than one, they have been
pioneers, and have set examples, which other firms have closely imitated
and followed. It was this house which first conceived the idea of
publishing serially favorite songs and poems in elegantly illustrated
form,--an idea which was at once taken up by nearly every other
publishing house in the country. These were issued in cloth binding,
and, two years ago, in the now famous "Golden Floral" style. In their
new dress these books have proved to be the most popular of their kind
ever sold on this continent.

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