Table Of ContentThe Development of the International Book Trade,
1870–1895
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The Development of the
International Book Trade,
1870–1895
Tangled Networks
By Alison Rukavina
© Alison Rukavina 2010
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-27563-8
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-32495-8 ISBN 978-0-230-29503-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230295032
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rukavina, Alison.
The development of the international book trade, 1870–1895 : tangled
networks / by Alison Rukavina.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Book industries and trade-—History—19th century. I. Title.
Z280.R85 2010
070.5'09034—dc22 2010034428
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
Dedicated to my mother, Carol Rukavina
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Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
1 Social Networks 17
2 Developing Distribution Channels and the Social Network 33
3 Piracy, Copyright, and the International Book Trade 56
4 The International Book Trade 83
5 The Colonial Booksellers’ Agency 113
Conclusion 135
Notes 151
Bibliography 171
Index 177
vii
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Ian MacLaren, Julie Rak, Heather Murray, Stephen
Slemon, and Merrill Distad for their input and advice regarding my dis-
sertation and all the individuals at the University of Alberta who helped
me complete this project. In particular, I offer thanks to Ian MacLaren
and Julie Rak who encouraged me and acted as sounding boards as
I developed my project and later as I revised and added to my doctoral
research when I wrote this book. I would also like to acknowledge the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, which
provided funding for this research, and the University of Alberta, which
provided travel grants and bursaries. I would also like to thank the
National Library of Australia (Petherick Collection), Ontario Archives
(Kirby Collection), and ProQuest (Archives of the British Publishers) for
permission to use the archival sources I quote in the book. I would also
like to thank the editors and journals, Angles on the English Speaking
World, Book History, and Script and Print, for permission to reuse mate-
rial and for giving me input on early versions and drafts of my work
that ended up in this book. I am grateful to HarperCollins for granting
permission to reproduce the ‘Commercial Map of the World’ from The
Century Atlas and Gazetteer as part of the book cover. Without the assis-
tance of Bonnie Gallinger and the librarians at the University of Alberta
Cameron Library and William C. Wonders Map Collection I would not
have found this map. Finally, I would like to thank my mother, Carol
Rukavina, for listening to me tell stories about the international book
trade and for encouraging me to write them down.
viii
Introduction1
In a letter dated 3 April 1885, Macmillan’s New York manager George
E. Brett wrote to Frederick Macmillan about meeting with Edinburgh
publisher A & C Black’s agent, who was passing through New York on
his way to Australia: ‘he tells me that there is quite a little boom in
England in regard to Australian business. Would you let me remind you
that Australia is not a great distance from San Francisco where George
occasionally goes.’2 Brett believed that in an already competitive busi-
ness, Macmillan’s American branch was in a unique position to utilize
the transcontinental rail system that had been completed in 1869 and
to develop a Pacific shipping route to the Australian colonies. Brett did
not want the British firm to fall behind other publishers scrambling
to increase their share of the thriving international trade in English-
language books and the Australian colonies in particular, as this market
accounted for a large percentage of British book exports.3 Consequently,
Brett proposed that his son, George P. Brett, could travel to the colonies
the subsequent year to investigate ways of expanding Macmillan’s por-
tion of the Australian textbook market and the book trade in general.4
In 1886, George P. Brett echoed his father’s sentiments and reminded
Frederick Macmillan that the firm could not rely on the continuing suc-
cess of the American and British offices.5 Brett and his father both consid-
ered that the future of the business lay in supplying books for the growing
number of readers worldwide, and Macmillan needed to seize the oppor-
tunity to expand their overseas business. Thus, George P. Brett added that
the publisher should also think about sending him to scout other Asian
Pacific markets, including Japan. In a letter dated 22 June 1886, George
P. Brett wrote to Frederick Macmillan that he had spoken to ‘[a] mem-
ber of the firm of Iveson AJM of this city [New York] … and I learn[ed]
from him that their Japanese trade is growing larger year by year and
1
