E. A. Weeks & Co., Weeks Publishing Co., Chicago

E. A. Weeks established his Chicago based book publishing firm - E. A. Weeks and Company- in the spring of 1893. He had previously been employed by the Donohue, Henneberry Company also of Chicago. Weeks' firm was initially located at 263 and 265 Wabash Avenue but by later in 1893 it had relocated to 276 and 278 Franklin Street. Weeks' initial foray into the publishing business included his purchase of the plates of the Melbourne Publishing Company, a subscription book firm. By 1894 the firm was located at 521-531 Wabash Avenue.

Most of the Weeks' output was in series form. Initially in 1893 there were four paperback series: Marguerite, Lucile, Melbourne and the Modern Author's Series.

In 1894 E. A. Lawson, formerly the manager of the Siegel-Cooper Department Store book and stationery department, bought a half interest in the company. The details are unclear but in 1896 Lawson resigned from Weeks and returned to Siegel-Cooper to manage the book department of its New York Store. In 1897 E. A. Lawson formed his own firm, E. A. Lawson Co. but still remained in the employ of Siegel-Cooper. In 1899 Lawson was listed as the president of Siegel-Cooper.

In 1895 hard cover books in series had been added to the Weeks' list. These included the Handy Volume Series and the Modern Library of Choice Fiction.

1896 was a year of progress in which numerous titles were added to Weeks' popular paperback series. More hard cover series were also started including the Best Works of Modern Authors' Series.

In 1897 E. A. Weeks and Company was sued. Creditors claimed that assets had been sold to George M. Hill to avoid paying bills. The suit stated that the company changed its name to the Weeks Publishing Company (Hill was president, Weeks was manager) to further avoid paying creditors. This latter company was incorporated at the end of January, 1897. Its principals were Alexander Schraig, William Miller, and Howard Craig. E. A. Weeks and Company officially went out of business at that time.

The Weeks Publishing Company continued publishing the Handy Volume Series, Marguerite Series, Melbourne Series and the Enterprise Series. In addition it began two new hardcover series: the Dartmouth Edition and the Amherst Edition.

In 1898 the Weeks Publishing Company sold off its entire inventory. Later in 1898 Weeks joined G. W. Noble, formerly of McClurg and Company and established E. A. Weeks Company. This company published a new paperback series, the Phoenix Series as well as the single hardcover book, Ionia by Craig Alexander. This early science fiction book may be the most valuable of all Weeks' publications.

By 1899 the E. A. Weeks Company (presently at 84 Wabash Avenue) was out of business.

Geo. M. Hill in 1899 published the Marguerite Series. Hill must have obtained Weeks' plates for this series. Hill also published a Handy Volume edition that had basically the same cover as an earlier Weeks' edition. Of note, is that the 1898 Hill mail order catalogue advertises the Marguerite Series with the E. A. Weeks and Company title page imprint. The catalogue also noted the earlier Handy Volume Series. One can surmise that eventually when these books were sold out that the Hill imprint went on the original Weeks' plates.

To further complicate some of these relationships the 1900 Hill cover for its Handy Volume Series is the same as an earlier (late 1890's) E. A. Lawson cover. I suspect that Hill bought the Lawson plates.

One important bibliographic note- it was not uncommon for Weeks to use earlier title pages for later books. In dating these books usually the book spine will be most accurate. A weeks Publishing Company imprint on the base of the spine indicates an 1897-1898 book regardless of the title page imprint.

Ten Nights in a Bar-Room was published in two different series.

Melbourne Series
This paperbound series was published between 1893 and 1896 by E. A. Weeks & Company. "Ten Nights" was added to the series in 1896. The cover has a book specific illustration.

It is 12 mo. and cost 25 Cents.

This book has not been seen.

Handy Volume Series
In 1896 "Ten Nights in a Bar-Room" was published as #36 in this series by E. A. Weeks & Company. In 1897 and 1898 the Weeks Publishing Company printed this set.

Cloth. A number of designs have been seen. Representative covers are shown when a "Ten Nights" book has not been seen.

E. A. Weeks & Company formats:

1896 covers:
Various colors with each cover format have been seen.

Weeks Publishing Company (1897-1898)