Edwards & Bushnell, St. Louis

Anton Edwards and Lynde Bushnell opened their book and Stationery house in 1850. Although the firm was mainly a “seller” , its imprint was noted in a few books. Those books were noted mainly between 1854 and 1858. Edwards retired in 1858 and Bushnell continued in the store on his own.

This company published six T. S. Arthur editions in 1856. I suspect that the printer in Philadelphia put this firm’s name on the title pages and shipped the books to St. Louis for sale. That would explain how with the exception of that imprint, these volumes are identical, including ads, to the Peck and Bliss editions.

Six T. S. Arthur books have the Edwards & Bushnell imprint.

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 and Theo. Bliss
Keen and Lee, Chicago
E. Darrow and Brother, Rochester
H. W. Derby and 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.