Lippincott, Grambo & Company, Philadelphia (1850-1855)

J. B. Lippincott was a well established bookseller and publisher in 1850 when he bought out the Grigg, Elliott & Co. publishing firm. Henry Grambo, a partner in the former firm, was made a partner in the new Lippincott, Grambo & Co. house. The partnership also included Edmund Claxton, George Remsen and Benj. Willis.

Based on the original agreement, the partnership expired in 1855 and the firm was renamed J. B. Lippincott & Co. Grambo left the company at that time and joined Mr. Grigg (formerly of Grigg and Elliot) in the banking business. In 1868 Grambo opened up a book and Stationery store at 601 Chestnut Street under the Henry Grambo & Co. moniker. He died in 1869.

Lippincott, Grambo & Company published a number of T. S. Arthur first editions. Most of the firsts were in the three series below but there are two non-series firsts.

Lippincott's Cabinet Histories of the States is a series of twelve state histories written by W. H. (William Henry) Carpenter and T. S. Arthur. (Massachusetts and Tennessee were authored alone by Carpenter.) Later the books were reprinted by J. B. Lippincott & Co., Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger and E. Claxton & Company. The series was later renamed "Cabinet Histories of the States".

Advertisements noted that the original plan was to have a book for each state of the union. By 1854 there were 31 states but this series never got past twelve of them. In addition, the states included seem random since even some of the original thirteen were left out.

All of these titles are first editions.

History of Georgia 1852
History of Kentucky 1852
History of Virginia 1852
History of New York 1853
History of New Jersey 1853
History of Illinois 1853
History of Vermont 1853
History of Ohio 1853
History of Connecticut 1853
History of Massachusetts 1853 (Written by W.H. Carpenter only)
History of Pennsylvania 1854
History of Tennessee 1854 (Written by W. H. Carpenter only)

Cloth. Blindstamped cover.
Two formats have been seen.
Format #1 has been noted with the earlier volumes (1852) but also occasionally with the later 1855 editions.
Format #2 has only been noted with the 1853-1854 books.

Format #1 has an embossed cover design with publisher's initials within it. Format #2 has a different decorative cover design. (See below.) Both formats have similar spines with gold gilt lettering and a block pattern. Different embossed spine decorations are noted. 7” x 4.75”.

The exact format dating pattern has yet to be worked out.

1852

1853 (also seen with an 1855 imprint)

Arthur's Juvenile Library
This 12 book series was first published by Lippincott, Grambo & Company in 1852. The first editions of all 12 books have copyrights and title pages that note 1852. Each volume has illustrations from original designs by Croome.

Yearly editions were put out by Lippincott, Grambo in 1853, 1854, and 1855.

Although the catalogues indicate that the Peacemakers was one of the books in this series, the book itself gives Cedardale as the title with the full title as "Cedardale, or the Peacemakers".

A booklet (32 pages) written by Arthur and titled the Lost Children was published in 1848 by Oliver & Brother. The text of the the Oliver book is different from the book in this series.

Many selections from these books subsequently appeared in Arthur’s Home Magazine.

1. Who is Greatest
2. Who are Happiest
3. Poor Wood Cutter
4. Maggy's Baby
5. Mr. Haven't Got Time and Mr. Don't-be-in-a-hurry
6. Cedardale; or, the Peacemakers
7. Uncle Ben's New Year's Gift
8. Wounded Boy
9. Lost Children
10. Our Little Harry
11. Last Penny
12. Pierre, the Organ Boy

Cloth. Various colors. Different embossed peripheral cover patterns for each year. The center of the cover is the same except in 1852 when the picture and lettering is in gold gilt. There is the same gold gilt illustration and lettering on the spine (back) for each year. 6.25” x 4.5”. Each book has a number of illustrations.

1852 deluxe edition (I have only seen this one book in this deluxe edition. No advertisements for it have been noted)

1852

1853
1854
1855
Variant 1855 cover

Arthur's Library for the Household
Lippincott, Grambo & Company published the first editions of all twelve books in this series in 1851. The earliest editions have 1851 on the copyright page and the title page. The books are bound in cloth and are 18 mo. Each volume cost 37.5 cents. No illustrations.

1. Woman's Trials; or Tales and Sketches from the Life Around Us
2. Married Life: Its Shadows and Sunshine
3. Two Wives; or, Lost and Won
4. Ways of Providence; or, He Doeth all Things Well
5. Home Scenes, and Home Influence
6. Stories for Young Housekeepers
7. Lessons in Life for all Who Will Read Them
8. Seed Time and Harvest: or Whatsoever a Man Soweth that shall also He Reap
9. Stories for Parents
10. Off-Hand Sketches, A Little Dashed with Humor
11. Words for the Wise
12. Tried and The Tempted

The books were sold separately or as a set. Lippincott, Grambo & Company published copies in 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854 and 1855. Between 1851 and 1853 the books had the same format. A new cover was introduced during 1853 and was also used in the 1854 books.

Later J. B. Lippincott & Company and Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger published the titles both in single books and combination books which contained two titles.

1851
1852
1853
1853 (Later)
1854

Non Series books:

The Confessions of a Housekeeper was published by Lippincott, Grambo & Co. in 1852 (Copyright 1851). The author was Mrs. John Smith, a pseudonym used by T. S. Arthur. This volume was 12 mo. and cost 50 cents. There were thirteen illustrations.

Trials and Confessions of an American Housekeeper was published in 1854 (Copyrighted in 1853)

The later book includes all the contents of the earlier book (25 chapters - 213 pages). The second book is larger and has an additional six chapters and ends on page 312. Interestingly the earlier book lists thirteen illustrations whereas the later book lists fourteen. However, in reviewed copies of the latter book, the fourteenth illustration is missing. I suspect that it was never part of the book. The six added chapters have no new illustrations.

Blindstamped with gilt back lettering and decorations. There are thirteen illustrations many of which are from designs by Croome. 7.5” x 5”.

Ten Nights in a Bar-Room was published in July, 1854. This firm published the first edition of this title. It has the two Van Ingen illustrations as the frontispieces. Later in 1854 J. W. Bradley and L. P. Crown published this title.

Interestingly in 1855 Lippincott, Grambo & Co. also published this title. The 1855 edition was co-published with J. W. Bradley and unlike other 1855 copies (and later 1854 editions) it had the two Van Ingen frontispiece illustrations.

See the Ten Nights in a Bar Room section for more information.