Keen & Lee, Chicago

Keen & Lee was established by Wm. B. Keen and Franklin Lee in 1853. It succeeded the Keen Bros. which dissolved upon the death of Joseph Keen. The latter firm had followed Brantigam and Keen which was established in 1842 and out of business in 1847 when Brantigam left for New York to begin a wholesale paper business.

Lee died in 1859 and Keen carried on until 1863. Other partners were added and by 1870 the publishing house was known as W. B. Keen, Cooke & Co.

Keen & Lee published six T. S. Arthur editions in 1856

The Wedding Guest: A Friend of the Bride and Bridegroom 1856
Words of Cheer; For the Toiling and the Sorrowing 1856
Our Homes: Their Joys, and Cares and Duties 1856
The Mother's Rule; or, The Right Way and the Wrong Way 1856
Friends and Neighbours; or, Two Ways of Living in the World 1856
The True Path; and How to Walk Therein 1856

Several other firms published these six titles on their own imprints in 1856. These publishers included:
H. C. Peck & Theo. Bliss
Edwards & Bushnell, St. Louis
E. Darrow & Brother, Rochester
H. W. Derby & Co., Cincinnati

The copyright pages on these other publishers' books list Peck and Bliss as the 1856 copyright holders. Interestingly enough all of the aforementioned publishers note the same stereotypers and printers (Smith & Peters, Philadelphia). Each also has four pages of Peck and Bliss advertisements.

One wonders since all of these books appear to have been published at the same time using the same printers, whether in fact they are all in reality “first editions”. Realistically however, the formal bibliographical first editions are the H.C. Peck and Theo. Bliss books.

The 1856 titles were published in Muslin at 75 cents and full gilt at $1.25. Each book has 300 pages and is 12 mo. (7.25” x 5”) Both blue and red covers have been seen.

Each book has a steel engraved frontispiece but no other illustrations.