A History of the Walter Scott Publishing House by John R. Turner A Thesis Submitted to The Faculty of Economic and Social Studies for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Information and Library Studies University of Wales, Aberystwyth 1995 Abstract Sir Walter Scott of Newcastle upon Tyne was bom in poverty and died a millionaire in 1910. He has been almost totally neglected by historians. He owned a publishing company which made significant contributions to cultural life and which has also been almost completely ignored. The thesis gives an account of Scott's life and his publishing business. Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1 : The Life of Sir Walter Scott 4 Chapter 2: Walter Scott's Start as a Publisher 25 Chapter 3: Reprints, the Back-Bone of the Business 45 Chapter 4: Editors and Series 62 Chapter 5: Progressive Ideas 112 Chapter 6: Overseas Trade 155 Chapter 7: Final Years 177 Chapter 8: Book Production 209 Chapter 9: Financial Management and Performance of the Company 227 Conclusion 260 Bibliography 271 Appendices List of contracts, known at present, undertaken by Walter Scott, or Walter Scott and Middleton 1 Printing firms employed to produce Scott titles 7 Transcriptions of surviving company accounts 11 Walter Scott, aged 73, from Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 2nd December 1899, p 7. Introduction The most remarkable fact concerning Walter Scott is his almost complete neglect by historians since his death in 1910. He created a vast business organization based on building and contracting which included work for the major railway companies, the first London underground railway, the construction of docks and reservoirs, ship building, steel manufacture and coal mining. When he died his estate was worth nearly £1.5 million. He also owned a publishing house which made a significant impact on British cultural life. At first the output of the publishing house was mainly reprints in their simplest form. These were famous books still in demand which were out of copyright and therefore in the public domain, the texts of which Scott issued without introductions or any other additional material. The next step was to publish series of selected editions from the works of famous authors, each volume with a critical introduction. There was one series for poetry and one for prose. Then came a series of original biographies, most of which were about authors from the poetry or prose series. There was thus a very gradual development of the publishing programme in which each new stage built on what was already in place. In all this time, too, the lists and the contacts with editors and authors were expanding. One success led to another and authors who had enjoyed good sales introduced their friends to Scott. Soon an important range of original books was being published which included Bernard Shaw's Quintessence of Ibsenism and his edition of Fabian Essays in Socialism, George Moore's Esther Waters, the first English translations by William Archer of Ibsen's plays, and early translations of Tolstoy's works. There was a series of original scientific works under the general editorship of Havelock Ellis which included more important works, like Karl Pearson's Grammar of Science and John A. Hobson's Evolution of Modern Capitalism, as well as translations into English of the works of leading European scientists. The general editor of the prose series was Ernest Rhys who went on to do identical work for J.M. Dent as the editor of Everyman's Library. The history of the publishing house, like the life of its owner, has also been almost totally neglected. In 1907 Walter Scott was made a baronet, but within ten years of his death he was just about forgotten, even in Newcastle upon Tyne where he had lived and where his business interests, including publishing, were centred. This thesis is an attempt to tell his story and particularly to uncover as much as possible of the history of the publishing house and to describe the nature and range of the publications. Chapter 1 deals with Walter Scott's life and his business interests other than printing and publishing. Chapters 2 to 7 cover, more or less chronologically, the history of the publishing house, and Chapters 8 and 9 discuss its organization and financial aspects. Because the publishing house changed its name over the years from Walter Scott to Walter Scott Ltd to the Walter Scott Publishing Co Ltd, the single word 'Scott' has been used to refer to any of these three organizations. Appendixes follow the main text with a list of Walter Scott's known construction contracts, a list of commercial printers used by Scott besides his own printing department, and a transcription of the surviving company accounts. A complete bibliography of all known Scott publications is also included. In tracking down the bibliography of Scott imprints, letters were sent to about 650 libraries, and copies of the books turned up mainly in Britain and North America, but also in Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, Norway, Denmark, Japan and Hawaii. I have been helped by such a large number of librarians that it would be unfair to single out any of them for special thanks. The Scott family, and particularly the present baronet Sir John Scott, have given assistance from the start, including finding and then allowing unrestricted access to family papers. I am grateful to the people who 2 sent replies to my request for information in the local Newcastle press; one reply was from Robert Gibson Graham who had been an apprentice in Scott's bookbinding department in the 1920s and who took me round the surviving factory building and explained its layout. Professor Matthew Bruccoli of the University of South Carolina has given a great deal of help with the bibliography and a great deal of encouragement with the historical study. The biggest debt of all, however, is owed to my supervisor, Mr David Stoker, who has read every word with the most painstaking attention. Without his critical comments the thesis would have floundered; he showed me where I should be going. 3 Chapter 1: The Life of Sir Walter Scott On 15th August 1882 the Publishers' Circular announced: Mr. Walter Scott has purchased the business hitherto carried on by the Tyne Publishing Company, Limited, London, 14 Paternoster Square, and Newcastle-on-T yne.1 Readers of the Publishers' Circular would have remembered The Tyne Publishing Co from the previous year when the business finally collapsed after a few hectic months of expansion which outstripped financial reality. It is unlikely that the readers would have heard of Walter Scott, a successful builder and contractor without formal education, without any previous connexion with the book trade, and despite his name, without the slightest connexion with literature. By this time Walter Scott was almost 56 years old and, seen from the point of view of his career up to 1882, the purchase of a publishing company was a very peculiar change of direction. Scott was bom at Abbey Town,2 or Holme Cultram as it was sometimes known,3 a village about seventeen miles from Carlisle in Cumberland. Little is known of his parents. His father, Samuel Scott, was married to Mary Martin on Christmas Day, 1824, and Walter 1 Publishers' Circular, 15 August 1882, p 702. 2 Information about Walter Scott's early life is taken from his obituary notices and conversations with his great grandson. 3 In the 1821 census Abbey Town had a population of 758. The place-name varied at this time and besides Abbey Town and Holme Cultram it was also known as Abbeytown, New Abbey, Abbey Holme and Abbey Junction. was bom on 17th August 1826. Samuel was landlord of the Wheatsheaf Inn and possibly also a farmer, running the two occupations from the same premises. Walter's grandfather was probably simply a farmer. In any event, the family was anything but wealthy. Walter's childhood was hard and was to become harder. He soon had to learn to fend for himself and to earn his keep because less than two weeks after his seventh birthday his father was dead. Walter's formal education consequently began and ended in the village school and by the time he was fourteen years old he was apprenticed to a stone mason. A printed application form survives, although from much later in Scott's lifetime, which gives a few further details. It is a proposal for membership to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers4 and states, 'Mr. Walter Scott served his time as a stone mason from 1840 to 1846 at the works of Mr. Jos. Relph, Wigton, Cumberland'. The statement is probably correct, despite being dated 6 June 1887 when Scott was 60 years old and had been out of his apprenticeship for more than 40 years. Wigton is the nearest town to Abbey Town, but it is still about six miles away so it is possible that Walter lodged with Mr. Relph,5 at least during the week. Scott had the right physique for work as a stone mason. He was naturally strong and well- built and grew to be over six feet tall. When he was only sixteen he became a champion wrestler in the local Cumberland and Westmorland style. 4 Copy now in the Institution of Civil Engineers. Incidentally, the proposer's signature on the form is that of Thomas Elliott Harrison who had worked with Robert Stephenson and carried out early railway work in the North-east He was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1874. 5 Unfortunately Joseph Relph does not appear in the 1841 census nor in the local directories, however Scott would have been unlikely to forget the name of his first employer.