Willey & Co. was a small subscription book publisher founded around 1888 by John S. Willey ( John Stephen Willey; 1855–1927) in Springfield, Massachusetts, at 195 State Street and operated by he and his wife, Kate Willey (née Catherine Casler; 1856–1894). Earlier, John. S. Willey Publishing Company ran in Manhattan, New York from about 1881 to about 1886.

History

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  • Standard Publishing House, , New York, John S. Willey, proprietor
  • John S. Willey Publishing Company, New York
  • Willey & Co., Springfield, Massachusetts
  • Willey Incorporated, Springfield, Massachusetts



Willey & Company, based in Springfield, Massachusetts. The company was operated by English immigrant printer John Stephen Willey along with his wife Catherine. Mainly a publisher of religious volumes, Willey & Company had also printed Penn’s Afro-American Press and Alexander Crummell’s Africa and America: Address and Discourses, both in 1891. Although small, the firm advertised itself in the 1890s as the publisher of "great Race Books."[1]

Citation: Penn to Douglass, 14 September 1892, General Correspondence File, reel 6, frames 667–69, Douglass Papers, Library of Congress; Harrison and Harrison, Irvine Garland Penn, 39; 1860 U.S. Census, New York, Oneida County, 80; 1905 New York State Census, New York County, 25; 1910 U.S. Census, New York, New York County, 147; The National Corporation Reporter: A Weekly Journal Devoted to the Interests of Business and Municipal Corporations, Finance and Commerce (Chicago: The United States Corporation Bureau, 1893–1894), 249; Massachusetts Birth Records, 1840–1915, Ancestry.com; U.S. City Directories, 1822–1995, Ancestry.com; New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829–1940, FamilySearch.org; New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795–1949, FamilySearch.org; FindAGrave.com.

Willy Incorporated was established in Springfield in 1893 by John S. Willey as President and Treasurer with capital stock of $10,000.

Willey & Co.'s address, 195 State Street, is the current location of the Springfield Fire & Marine Insurance Co. building, erected in 1905, and, in 1983, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

John S. Willey

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John Stephen Willey was born March 31, 1855, in Leamington, Warwickshire, England.

Willey & Company, New York

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  • 1895 Directory, John S. Willey, publisher → work: 26 Frankfort → home: 108 East 10th Street.
Trow's New York City Directory for the Year Ending May 1, 1883, Vol. 96
211 East 57th Street, New York (home on 1883 Naturalization papers)
John S. Willey, Arrived March 1864, Naturalized in Common Pleas Court, New York County, January 22, 1883

Selected works (in chronilogical order)

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Standard Publishing House

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  • Yaggy, Levi Walter (1848–1912); Haines, Thomas Louis (born 1844) (1882). Museum of Antiquity – a description of ancient life: the employments, amusements, customs and habits, the cities, places, monuments and tombs, the literature and fine arts of 3,000 years ago.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) OCLC 910254643 (all editions).
Chicago: Western Publishing House (1880 ed.). LCCN 09-17503.
→ New York: Standard Publishing House (1881 ed.) (link – via Internet Archive).
→ New York: Standard Publishing House (1882 ed.). (link – via Internet Archive). LCCN 08-5423.
Chicago: Western Publishing House. New York: Standard Publishing House (1882 ed.). LCCN 08-5423.
Chicago: Western Publishing House. (1883 ed.) (link – via Internet Archive).
Alexandria, Virginia: W.P. Grant & Co. (1883 ed.). LCCN 16-10160.
San Francisco: Law, King & Law Publishing House[a] (1884 ed.) (link – via Internet Archive).


  • Dobbins, Frank Stockton (1855–1916); assisted by Samuel Wells Williams (1812–1884) and Isaac Hollister Hall (1837–1896) (1883). Error's Chains: How Forged and Broken – a complete, graphic, and comparative history of the many strange beliefs, superstitious practices, domestic peculiarities, sacred writings, systems of philosophy, legends and traditions, customs and habits of mankind throughout the world, ancient and modern. New York.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
New York: Standard Publishing House (1878)
Philadelphia: Hubbard Bros.[b] (1880 ed.) (link – via Google Books). LCCN 30-17989.
Philadelphia: Stringer & Strien[2][c] (1880 ed.)[3]
New York: Standard Publishing House (1883) (link 1 & link 2 – via Google Books). LCCN 30-13606 (microfilm).
New York: Standard Publishing House (1884). LCCN 43-38533 (38th ed.).
New York: Willey Brothers & Co. (1886) (link – via Internet Archive). LCCN 30-13607 (39th ed.).
Philadelphia: Hubbard Bros. (1897 ed.) (link – via Google Books).
Chicago: The Dominion Company[d] (1901 ed.) (link – via Google Books). LCCN 03-5591.
1881 title: False Gods: or, the Idol Worship of the World.
1883–1886 title: Error's Chains: How Forged and Broken
1897 title: Gods and Devils of Mankind
1901 title: Story of the World's Worship.


  • Haines, Thomas Louis (born 1844) (1883). Worth and Wealth; or, The Art of Getting, Saving, and Using Money. (Henry Franklin Cutler – born 1862; died 1945 – is cited in a 1950 book by Richard Ward Day as having brokered the sale this book to John S. Willey Publishing Company).{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: postscript (link)[4] LCCN unk83037751 ; OCLC 26789839 (all editions).
Chicago: Haines Brothers (1883).
New York: Standard Publishing House (1884).
Chicago: Brandt and Bruce (1884).

Willey Brothers & Co.

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John S. Willey Publishing Company

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Note: The title, intended as sarcasm by the author, sees capitalism as immoral and unethical and offers Christianity as an antidote. Edward J. Blum, in an essay published in 2013, explained that Leavitt "turned to fiction to save the America people from sin and decadence".[5]

Willey & Co.

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Editors:
Samuel Eli Cornish (1795–1858)
John Brown Russwurm (1799–1851)





Not sure

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  • Willey, John S. (1885). The History of a Libel Suit – John S. Willey, Proprietor of the Standard Publishing House, Now President of the John S. Willey Publishing Company, Versus Freeman B. Dickerson, of F. B. Dickerson & Co., Publishers: or, Six Cents Versus Twenty-five Thousand Dollars (pamphlet). OCLC 1097498589 (all editions).
→ Freeman Benjamin Dickerson (1850–1924)

Litigation

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Family

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Willey's son, Rev. John Stephen Willey, Jr., from 1945 to 1955, was Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in Oklahoma City. From January 4, 1944, to late October 1945, he was a Navy Chaplain at Cabaniss Field, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. Before that, he was with a large bank in Manhattan. He was ordained as Priest December 21, 1933.

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Subscription books, with the elegant bindings and gold-edged leaves, caught the eye of many who were hungering for knowledge on the intellectually starved frontier. A longing to have a pretty volume in the home or to give the children advantages which parents never had, influenced others to part with their hard-earned cash.[6]
Subscription publishing was tantamount to today's gofundme styled publishing and ArtistShare, a fan-funded platform where artists provide content for patrons who subscribe to access levels of their choosing.
"The serious trend of the public's reading, as illustrated by Chicago library circulation statistics," said R. S. Branch, of a Chicago publishing house, "sounds a note of optimism for the subscription book industry. When we learn that 'The Mind in the Making' was the most popular book in the library in 1922, we cannot escape the fact, as surprising as it may be to many, that the books the public wants nowadays are those of educational value. This is the kind of books subscription publishers sell. We would have to go out of business if we depended upon best-sellers whose popularity lasts a few months or a year. Our books represent a large investment, and if they are to prove profitable they must have continuing interest and be as valuable ten years in the future as they are when issued." – R.S. Branch, in a speech before a convention of the Subscription Book Publishers Association, 1923.[7]

Subscription Book Publishers' Association

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National Association of Book Publishers

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The Publishers Association disbanded sometime on or before 1929, but many of its members joint the National Association of Book Publishers, founded in 1920 in New York, and from within it, formed a Subscription Group Committee.
  • 1920: Frederick G. Melcher, founding Executive Secretary

Conventions

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  • 1923: Eighth Annual Convention

The American Society for Publishing Subscription Books

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Educational Subscription Book Publishers Association

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Bibliography

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  1. ^ Law, King & Law Publishing House: H. Law, President; R.S. King, Vice President; H.E. Law, Secretary and Treasurer.
  2. ^ The Hubbard Bros. of Philadelphia was founded in 1868 in Philadelphia by Alfred Hamilton Hubbard (1839–1902). Those joining the firm include his brother, Amos Tyler Hubbard (1836–1912) (joined 1871; retired June 1881), Francis Wayland Ayer (1848–1923) (joined in 1875; retired 1882), and Frank Wallace Judd (1856–1887) (joined in 1993). The firm, among other things, was a subscription publishing house and also a Bible publisher. Imprints included the Edgewood Publishing House (which published Edgewood Editions, beginning 1888), John W. Lovell Company, and the Cottage Library Publishing House. In 1893, the firm was renamed Hubbard Publishing Company. (Philadelphia Inquirer, April 18, 1890)
  3. ^ Stringer & Strien was located at 1420 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. Michael S. Strien, Jr. (1850–1907). For thirty-four years, until his death, Strien was associated with the Business Department of the American Baptist Publication Society in Philadelphia. (Publishers' Weekly, July 6, 1907)
  4. ^ The Dominion Company, based in Chicago – at 352-356 Dearborn Street, and later, at 334 Dearborn Street – was a publishing house that specialized in subscription books. the company was founded around 1897 and was sold in bankruptcy to David B. Clarkson in 1906. (Saturday Evening Post, November 17, 1906)

Notes

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References linked to notes

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Dresser, Zachary W., PhD; Wright, Benjamin, PhD (eds.); Forward by Mark A. Noll (2013). Apocalypse and the Millennium in the American Civil War Era. Series 1: Book collections on Project MUSE. Series 2: Conflicting Worlds – New Dimensions of the American Civil War. Louisiana State University Press. pp. 217–252 (p. 236 & note 67 on p. 250). Retrieved July 14, 2021 – via Google Books (preview only). {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)


  • Clarkson, David Bagley (1876–1923) (the book broker) (1907). Bankrupt Bargain List. Chicago: David B. Clarkson Company.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Lua error in Module:LCCN at line 53: Template:LCCN: You must provide an ID..; OCLC 56619512 (all editions).
Note: David B. Clarkson Company, in 1905, became successor to Clarkson and Cooper, publisher based in Chicago → Publishers' Weekly, The (July 1, 1905). "Business Notes". 68 (1): 25. Retrieved July 14, 2021 – via Internet Archive. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)










Chapter 4: "Black Dispatch". pp. 51–61 – via Internet Archive {{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)


  • Springfield Directory. Springfield Directory, Including Chickopee and West Springfield. Springfield, Massachusetts: The Price & Lee Co. (publisher and compiler). Springfield Printing and Binding Co. (printer). {{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) LCCN 01-12868.
→ 1893: "Willey, James S.". Vol. Vol. 42. p. 371 – via Ancestry.com. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
→ 1896: "Stock Companies: Willey Co., Incorporated 1893" (23rd ed.). p. 535 – via Ancestry.com.



London & New York: Harper & Brothers (publisher) (1921). (link). LCCN 21020447 – via Google Books.
London: Jonathan Cape (publisher); (introduction by H.G. Wells) (1923). (link) (new and revised ed.) – via Internet Archive.
→ London: Watts & Co. (publisher). (introduction by H.G. Wells). The Thinkers Library, No. 46.
→ 1st Impression (1934)
→ 2nd Impression (May 1933)
4th Impression (May 1940). (link) – via Internet Archive.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
4th Impression (September 1943). (link) – via Internet Archive.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
→ London & New York: Harper & Brothers (publisher) (1939). LCCN 39-2958.
→ New York: Harper & Brothers (publisher) (1950). LCCN 50-6284.