J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia

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.

This firm published three T. S. Arthur series as well as one Arthur non-series book that had previously been printed by its predecessor, Lippincott, Grambo & Co.

Lippincott's Cabinet Histories of the States
Arthur's Library for the Household
Arthur's Juvenile Library

These series were published in numerous formats beginning in the mid 1850's. Many of these formats are shown below. A fourth Arthur series, All’s for the Best, was not published by Lippincott, Grambo & Co.

It published six non-series books. (See below.)
Home-Heroes, Saints and Martyrs
Ups and Downs (Previously published with a different name by Lippincott, Grambo & Co.)
Good Time Coming
Comforted
Talks with a Philosopher on the Way of God with Man
Talks with a Child on the Beatitudes

Lippincott also published a number of anthologies edited by Arthur using the Uncle Herbert pseudonym. See the Uncle Herbert section for more information.

Lippincott's Cabinet Histories of the States
This is a series of twelve state histories written by W. H. (William Henry) Carpenter and T. S. Arthur. (Massachusetts and Tennessee were authored by Carpenter only.) The first editions of the titles were published by Lippincott, Grambo & Co. Later these books were published by Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger and E. Claxton & Company as "Cabinet Histories of the States”. (The original copyrights are shown below)

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)

Lippincott published these titles between 1856 and 1865. Editions have been noted in 1856, 1857, 1858, 1860, 1861, 1865.

Cloth. Red and blue seen. Blindstamped. Front covers have peripheral decorative patterns with a centrally placed picture (Various eagles). Gold gilt lettering and decorations on the spine. 6.125” x 4”.

These books have two title pages. One has a state specific picture with an 1856 date. The other has the actual date of publication under the imprint. An example of the state picture title page for New York is just below. Illustrations: There is a frontispiece of a famous person from the state as well as the title page illustration.

No specific yearly cover format pattern has yet to be determined.

1856
Unknown date (Probably 1856)
This cover has been seen in 1857, 1858, 1860, and 1865
1858
1865

Arthur's Library for the Household

This 12 title series was published initially in 1851 by Lippincott, Grambo & Co. Subsequent editions of these titles were reprinted by J. B. Lippincott & Co. Editions have been noted in 1856, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1864, and 1866.

The books are cloth with various blindstamped designs. Gold gilt lettering and decorations on the spines. There are no illustrations. 6” x 4.25”.

These books were also published in wraps per 1864 ads. I have not seen an example of one of these and they are obviously quite scarce.

Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger published the twelve books as well as twelve titles in six volumes in the late 1860’s until at least 1874. The title page of these combination books note J. B. Lippincott & Co.

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

(New editions will be shown as they become available)

1856

1859

1860
1864
1866

Arthur's Juvenile Library

The first editions of this 12 volume series were first published in 1852 by Lippincott, Grambo & Company.

Between 1856 and 1881 numerous editions of these books were published by J.B. Lippincott & Company. Publication dates have been noted: 1857, 1859, 1860, 1863, 1864, 1866, 1868, 1869, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1881.

Interestingly this same series was published by Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger in 1868 and probably into the mid-1870’s.

The earliest volumes have a similar format as the latest Lippincott, Grambo & Co. editions. Cloth. A decorative pattern with the name of the series surrounding an embossed picture of children reading a book (slightly different from the Lippincott, Grambo pattern). Gilt back (spine) illustration and lettering. 6.25” x 5”.

Later books have an embossed picture of children reading a book with different decorative patterns on the cover. The earlier books have gold gilt highlighting the cover picture.

All the formats have a gilt back (spine) illustration and lettering (different on the earlier books). Various colors.

All of the titles have illustrations from "designs by Croome”.

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
12. Pierre, the Organ Boy

1857
1859
1863
1868
1869

In 1872 the 12 titles were combined into six volumes. These blue cloth blindstamped books have the two titles printed in gold on the spine. They are 6.25" x 4.5”

The combination volumes are:

Cedardale with Mr. Haven't Got Time and Mr. Don't-be-in-a-hurry
Poor Woodcutter and Maggy's Baby
Who is Greatest and Who are Happiest
Lost Children and Our Little Harry
Wounded Boy and Uncle Ben's New Year's Gift
Last Penny and Pierre

Beginning in 1873 there were two new formats published. Both formats note a new copyright: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1873. A twelve volume set and a six volume set which featured 2 stories in each book.

The single title edition has green cloth. The cover has a black decorative pattern with an appliqué. A number of different appliqué pictures have been seen. They are not title specific. The spine has gold gilt lettering and illustrations. 6.875” x 4.5”

The combination books have maroon, blue or green cloth. The same decorative black line drawn cover pattern is seen as on the post-1873 single title books; but the combination editions have a gold gilt picture of a swan on the cover. The spine has gold gilt lettering and decoration. 6.875” x 4.5”.

In 1881 the combination title books have a new format. Cloth. Multiple colors. Blindstamped. Gold block with lettered title on the spine. 6.75” x 4.5”.

1873

All's for the Best Series
1. All’s for the Best (Copyright 1868)
2. Seen and the Unseen 1869 copyright 1868
3. Heroes of the Household 1887 seen/ copyright 1868

The title "All's for the Best” by T. S. Arthur was previously published by Crosby and Nichols. The text of the two books is totally different. This All's for the Best contains 12 chapters, most of which had previously been published in Arthur’s Home Magazine, Lady’s Home Magazine between 1859 and 1865. Three of the chapters (IX, X, XI) had been published in the 1865 “ Home-Heroes, Saints and Martyrs.

The chapters of Seen and Unseen were previously published in Arthur’s Home Magazine in the 1860’s. Although some of the content was published as early as 1851 in Godey’s Lady’s Book.

The entire contents of Heroes of the Household was originally published by J. B. Lippincott & Co. in 1865 in Home-Heroes, Saints and Martyrs. The latter book had three additional chapters which were published in “All’s the Best”.

Not all the content of these three books was written by Arthur although there is no accreditation given to any other authors. Kate Sutherland, Morton Colman, and Mrs. Lafayette Wilkins to name a few wrote some of the material. Details are given in the individual book section.

Three formats seen:
Cloth. Brown. Blindstamped. Gold gilt lettering and decoration on the spine. 6.25" x 4.25" Frontispiece illustration only. 1871 (but this format is probably the earliest for these titles).

Cloth. Green. Black line drawn decorative design on the cover. Gold gilt lettering and decoration on the spine. Illustrated. 6.75” x 4.5”. The cover design is the same as the pattern (except for the gold gilt) on the combination books of Arthur’s Juvenile Series (See above). 75 cents each or boxed for $2.25 (This book noted in 1877)

Cloth. Green. Black line drawn decoration and lettering on the front cover. (This book also noted in 1887)

1877

Non Series titles:

Home-Heroes, Saints and Martyrs
This 296 page volume was published and copyrighted in 1865. There appears to have only been one edition. There are 11 chapters. Thus far I have determined that eight of the chapters were previously published in periodicals. My suspicion is that the other three chapters are also reprints. Not all of the material was written by Arthur although there is no credit given to the other writers.

Thus this book is a first edition of this title and the first appearance of these writings together in a book form. But this book has no original material within it.

Cloth. Maroon. Blindstamped. Gold gilt lettering on the spine. 7.25" x 5".
Frontispiece is the only illustration.
I have only seen this edition of this title.

Ups and Downs: or, Trials of a Housekeeper 1857
This book is a reprint of the earlier Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper (copyright 1853) published by Lippincott, Grambo & Co.

Good Time Coming 1855
Lippincott co-published this title with J. W. Bradley & Co. in 1855.
This title was also published in 1855 by J. W. Bradley as well as L. P. Crown & Co. The Lippincott book is 12 mo. and cost $1.00. The Bradley book is usually noted to be the first edition. This may not be the case. This story was serialized in Arthur’s Home Magazine between May, 1855 and January, 1856.

The following three Lippincott titles do not note an author. "Talks with a Philosopher" was also published by "The American New Church Tract and Publication Society". In this company's ads Arthur is the stated author. Thus, these three book based on the title page that says "By the author of.." link back to Arthur.

Comforted
Copyright 1872/ title page 1873
Cloth. 12 mo., no illustrations 75 cents

Talks with a Philosopher on the Ways of God with Man
Green cloth. Gold gilt title lettered at the top of the cover.
Copyright 1870/ title page 1871. 108 pages No illustrations. 6.25" x 4.25". 75 cents

Talks with a Child on the Beatitudes
Copyright /title page 1868. 132 pages
Cloth and wraps. 75/50 cents. 18 mo.

The only copy of this title that I have seen at this time (6/17) is this 1872 format. Green cloth. gold gilt title on the cover with a peripheral decoration.