Summary
Overview
Putnam, George Palmer,
1814-1872.
George Palmer Putnam Collection
1813-1888 (mostly 1853-1855)
7 linear feet, 10 boxes, 2 flat cases
Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books
and Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Abstract
Consists primarily of authors' correspondence, accompanied by related artwork,
pertaining to G.P. Putnam & Co.'s publishing enterprise from before the Civil War.
In addition to the correspondence and a scrapbook of miscellaneous material, the
collection contains drafts of articles intended for the anthology Homes of American Authors (1853), as well as manuscript material by George
Bethune and Francis Hawks.
Description
Description
The George Palmer Putnam Collection contains correspondence, a scrapbook,
manuscripts, and artwork pertaining to George Palmer Putnam's publishing enterprise
from before the Civil War. There are approximately 1650 letters, 17 manuscripts, and
more than 50 artworks in the collection. The correspondence originally fell into five
distinct sections, four of which were organized alphabetically, and one randomly, in
scrapbooks. The first part was marked “Private,” although there is a mixture of
private and professional letters in it. The artwork depicts the writers of particular
letters and sometimes their homes as well. Fifteen of the manuscripts are drafts of
descriptive and anecdotal articles by various authors (still in part unidentified)
for Putnam's 1853 publication entitled Homes of American
Authors. There are letters by the authors represented in this publication
in the correspondence series.
Collection Creator
Biography
Publisher George Palmer Putnam (1814-1872), a self-taught genius from Maine, began his
independent publishing enterprise in 1848 in New York City, after working for a
bookseller and other publishers there, starting in 1829 (at the age of fifteen). Among
his chief concerns as a publisher were the promotion of American literature the
establishment of international copyright regulations.
During the years he worked in England, 1841-1847, while still John Wiley's partner
(1841-1847) Putnam realized that the book market on both sides of the Atlantic was for
English authors. Putnam and Wiley tried to promote interest in American literature by
publishing such works as Caroline Kirkland's books about the West, e.g. Western Clearings (1845) and Herman Melville's first novel
Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1846). When Putnam
broke up with Wiley in 1848 he kept the literary part of their trade list. The two had
developed different priorities. Putnam's interest in publishing American literature no
longer suited Wiley, who had developed a preference for technological and scientific
works.
Already as Wiley's partner, Putnam had concerned himself with the need for copyright
legislation. He and Wiley were the first American publishing firm to offer royalties to
the author, in direct opposition to the more common practice among American publishers
of selling piracies. Putnam fought for copyright legislation throughout his career. His
son George Haven Putnam at the end of his biography of his father says that the
copyright struggle exhausted him and may have caused his early death in 1872.
Two of the first authors to be published by Putnam, as an independent publisher, were
Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe. In fact, Putnam cultivated ties with all the
American authors now considered part of the canon of 19th century literature, such as
James Fenimore Cooper, Richard Henry Dana, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, as well as with many still awaiting evaluation.
Putnam began publication of Putnam's Monthly Magazine in
1853. He drafted a survey letter to be sent to potential contributors, a copy of which
is preserved in the scrapbook. It reads like a manifesto on behalf of American literary
and intellectual history.
The financial crisis that struck the nation in 1857 together with the revelation of
dishonest financial dealings within his staff forced Putnam to suspend publication of
his magazine and assign his business to another company. Fortunately his good friend
Washington Irving bought up and then sold back to him at cost the stereotypes of his
books, so that Putnam could resume his business. Other authors were inspired by this to
retain their contracts with Putnam, and within the year his publishing enterprise was
flourishing again.
However, business slowed down with the outbreak of the Civil War. Putnam was forced to
turn his trade list over to the firm of Hurd & Houghton which sold his books on
commission from 1862 until 1966. During that period Putnam supported himself and his
family by working as a civil servant, overseeing the eighth district of New York City
for the Internal Revenue Service. He was fired by President Andrew Johnson in 1866 after
refusing to pay an assessment in return for his job. In the wake of that disruption
Putnam reestablished his publishing enterprise as G. P. Putnam & Son, or, as it was
called after 1871, G.P. Putnam & Sons, and finally G.P. Putnam's Sons.
The magazine resumed publication in 1868, only to be merged finally with Scribner's Monthly in 1870. The publishing house as a family
business endured into the 1930s, then became a division of a larger house.
Collection History
Acquisition
The Putnam correspondence purchased by Princeton in 1991 and 1993 had been mounted in
folio-size scrapbooks, probably by G. P. Putnam's son, George Haven Putnam, in order
to refer to them when writing the biography of his father, entitled George Palmer Putnam: A Memoir, Together with
a Record of the Earlier Years of the Publishing House Founded
by Him (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1912).
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Margaret Sherry in
1994. Finding aid written by Margaret Sherry in 1994.
For conservation purposes all
letters have been dismounted and foldered, except for those in the scrapbook that was
part of the 1993 purchase.
Bibliography
Volume 14 of the Northwestern-Newberry edition of The Writings
of Herman Melville includes the Melville correspondence from Princeton's
George Palmer Putnam Collection. This volume has been edited and annotated, with an
historical note, by Lynn Horth, revised and augmented from The
Letters of Herman Melville (1960), edited by Merrell R. Davis and William
H. Gilman.
Access and Use
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research use.
Use Restrictions
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of
copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library
does not own the original. Permission to publish material from the collection must be
requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special
Collections. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the
collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of
copyright.
Preferred Citation
George Palmer Putnam Collection; 1813-1888 (mostly 1853-1855), Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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