D. Appleton & Company

• 1. Founding And Early Expansion

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  Daniel Appleton opened a general store in Haverhill, Massachusetts, before moving operations to Boston on the 13th of May 1813. He imported books from England while running that shop. The business relocated again to New York City on the 25th of April 1825 when he partnered with his brother-in-law Jonathan Leavitt. This move marked their official entry into the book publishing trade. Daniel published his first titled work in 1831 called Crumbs from the Master's Table by William Mason. That author lived between 1719 and 1791. Daniel retired from active leadership in 1848 after decades of growth. His son William Henry Appleton then formed a partnership with four brothers including John Adams Appleton and George Swett Appleton. Daniel died on the 49th day of 1849.

• 2. Scientific And Medical Publishing

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  The firm issued works by contemporary scientists at reasonable prices for American readers. Charles Darwin appeared among these authors alongside Herbert Spencer and Thomas Huxley. John Tyndall also contributed to this scientific catalog. A special department focused entirely on medical books developed within the company structure. Dr. Robert Hall Babcock wrote Diseases of the Heart and Arterial System which arrived in 1903. He followed that with Diseases of the Lungs in 1907. These texts represented a significant portion of their output during the late nineteenth century. The company made Spanish language books for the South America market a specialty. Rafael Pombo was one author whose works they published for that specific regional audience.

• 3. Subscription Models And Magazines

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  D. Appleton & Company became the first New York trade publisher to engage in subscription publishing on the 57th year of its existence. They launched Appleton's Journal in 1869 as part of this new strategy. Edward L. Youmans edited the International Scientific Series starting in 1872. Popular Science Monthly magazine began publication the same year under his direction. The journal relocated from Leonard Street and Broadway to Bond Street, New York City in 1881. It changed its name to Appleton's Magazine at that time. Joseph H. Sears reorganized the firm after bankruptcy in 1900. He had previously worked for Harper's before taking charge of Appleton's operations. The magazine later became Appleton's Booklovers Magazine in 1905.

• 4. Major Literary Works And Authors

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  Stephen Crane published The Red Badge of Courage through D. Appleton & Company in 1895. Lewis Carroll saw Alice's Adventures in Wonderland released by them in 1865 as the first U.S. edition. Henry James contributed literary works to their catalog between 1843 and 1916. Edith Wharton produced art works with them during her career spanning 1862 to 1937. Rudyard Kipling authorized fifteen volumes of his work to be published by the firm in 1899. Frank Lebby Stanton wrote Songs of the Soil which appeared in 1894. General William Tecumseh Sherman published his memoirs in 1875 as one of the first such releases by a Civil War general. Joel Chandler Harris contributed Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings in 1880.

• 5. Cyclopedias And Reference Works

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  George Ripley edited the New American Cyclopedia alongside Charles Anderson Dana from 1857 until 1863. This project spanned sixteen volumes before being revised and enlarged as the American Cyclopedia between 1873 and 1876. Francis L. Hawks edited Apples' Cyclopædia of Biography in one volume in 1856. He added American biographies to a volume originally edited by Elihu Rich and Richard Griffin & Company in London. James Grant Wilson and John Fiske edited Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography in six volumes released in 1887. Charles Kendall Adams edited Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia in eight volumes during 1893. Rossiter Johnson took over editing duties from 1902 onward for the Universal Cyclopaedia and Atlas. The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia appeared between 1889 and 1891 with a New Century Dictionary continuing until approximately 1963.

• 6. Bankruptcy And Corporate Mergers

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  The company filed for bankruptcy in 1900 after years of financial strain. They sold Popular Science magazine following this collapse. Joseph H. Sears reorganized the firm using resources from Harper's publishing house. J. W. Hiltman was named president in 1919. Stewart and Kidd, founded in 1914, got purchased by Appleton in 1924. On the 2nd of June 1933, D. Appleton & Company merged with The Century Company to form the Appleton-Century Company. That second entity had been founded in 1881. In 1945 they sold their hymn books department to Revell Publishing. A final merger occurred in 1948 when they joined F. S. Crofts Co., which had been established in 1924. This created the Appleton-Century-Crofts organization that carried forward the legacy of the original firm.