About the Collection
In the 19th century, book production and consumption exploded, evolving from a high culture luxury at the beginning of the century, to the first truly mass culture towards the end of the century.
A combination of economic, social, scientific, and engineering innovations coupled with a rapidly changing culture stemming from the Industrial Revolution era, sparked the early publishing industry that is documented in this collection. That same time period witnessed the rise of international publishing houses, big capital, the periodical press, and debates around intellectual property that connected publishing with wealth and influence on a never before seen scale.
The British and American Publishing Collection of Scott Bennett contains over 350 volumes relating to the history of publishing, focused primarily on the 19th century. The collection comprises largely of publishing house histories and memoirs, including numerous British publishers such as John Murray, Charles Knight, and the House of McMillan; and an equally wide array of American publishers such as Carey & Lea, Horace Liveright, and the House of Harper. A subset of the collection consists of volumes of the Family Library, a pioneering series for the English common reader first published in London by John Murray 1825-35 and subsequently by Thomas Tegg.
Another subset of the collection consists of works of American authors published by the Edinburgh publisher David Douglas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Douglas introduced many American authors to the British reading public. This collection adds to the Library’s extensive holdings in the history of publishing and provides important new resources for expanding curricular interest in this area
The history of publishing, publishing firms and biographies is (perhaps self-serving) large area of literature, and patrons interested in pursuing this subject should not restrict themselves to the materials donated by Mr. Bennett. Many of the "hits" in catalog searches will, however, turn out to be part of his donation.
Search for books related to publishing in Great Britain
Search for books relating to publishing in the United States
For shorter article and national histories, a great place to start is the Oxford Companion to the Book.