Ohio History Journal

AN EDDY IN THE WESTERN FLOW OF AMERICAN

CULTURE

 

 

The History of Printing and Publishing

in Oxford, Ohio,

1827-1841

 

 

 

 

 

 

By

 

JESSE H. SHERA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

 

 

It is, I am well aware, not customary to append to a study as

brief as this a lengthy list of acknowledgments. Nevertheless,

there are in this instance certain major obligations the public rec-

ognition of which, I am convinced, is not an act of supererogation.

Accordingly, I would express my gratitude to: Mr. Douglas C.

McMurtrie of Chicago for helpful information leading to the dis-

covery of certain hitherto unknown items; Miss Adelia W. Cone

of the Miami University faculty and former president of the Ox-

ford Town and Township Historical Society, for much valuable

criticism and advice; and the members of the Oxford Town and

Township Historical Society collectively for their patience in lis-

tening to the reading of this document in its preliminary form.

My two most important debts, however, are to my intimate

friends James H. Rodabaugh of Ohio State University, and Ed-

gar W. King, librarian of the Miami University Library. The

former, who unquestionably knows more concerning the history

of Miami than any other single individual, has been most generous

in giving to me without stint the results of his own investigations.

The latter, in his official capacity as librarian, has at all times

placed at my complete disposal without restriction the resources

of his library. But it is in his personal relation as colleague and

friend that my debt to him is greatest, for this study was originally

begun at his suggestion, and might very well never have been com-

pleted without his help and encouragement. My debt to both these

men is very great; they are responsible for most of the merit that

this paper contains--its faults are entirely my own.

J. H. S.

 

 

 

 

 

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THE HISTORY OF PRINTING AND PUBLISHING IN

OXFORD, OHIO, 1827-1841

 

It has today become rather trite to talk of the trials and hard-

ships that beset that eager group of students that came to the

newly-opened doors of Miami University in the middle of the

1820's; and many who are prone to look askance at the compar-

ative ease of college life of the present, and its attendant attrac-

tiveness for the intellectually incompetent are inclined to feel that

the selective influence of pioneer hardship was not an unmitigated

evil. It is thus rather easy to become a little sentimental over the

courage of these inexperienced boys, who, in the spring of 1827,

set to work to create and carry through a literary publication at

Miami.

On the other hand, it is equally easy to go to the opposite ex-

treme, and, remembering that "the thoughts of youth are long,

long, thoughts," dismiss the entire matter as ill-advised boyish am-

bition, thoroughly unworthy of serious study after the passage of

a hundred years. As usual the proper viewpoint lies between

sentimental glorification and absolute disparagement. Thus, to

understand and interpret fully the spirit that motivated such lofty

literary ambitions it is best to consider briefly the soil from which

this activity sprung. To project, in short, the Literary Focus, and

all it represents upon the background of certain social and eco-

nomic forces of which it was a logical--and indeed one might say

an almost inevitable result.

The limitations of the present discussion preclude the pos-

sibility of any extensive considerations of the westward flow of

American culture in its larger aspects; all this has been dealt with

in better fashion elsewhere. Suffice it here to say that with the

termination of the Revolutionary War, the resultant establishment

of a stable form of governmental organization, and the continual

pushing westward of the frontier, the way was opened for the

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106    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

rather rapid flow of cultural ideas and literary forms from the

Eastern centers to the vast areas of the hinterland. As a mani-

festation of this movement, Miami University, of course, played

her part in numerous ways. Our immediate concern with all this,

however, is confined to but one highly specialized phase; the ex-

tent to which, and the methods by which the tangible expression

of this culture were impressed in concrete form on paper--and,

more specialized still, on paper, not by pen and ink, but through

the medium of movable types and the printing press.

By 1827, printing in the United States was by no means in its

infancy from the standpoint of years. Indeed, almost two cen-

turies had passed since the ill-fated Rev. Jose Glover set out from

the shores of England to bring to this country its first printing

press, and only two decades after the landing of the Pilgrims, since

that incunabulum of American printing, the Bay Psalm Book,

came from the press of Stephen Day. Even in Ohio, printing on

a considerable scale had been going on for some time. For on

November 9, 1793, William Maxwell of Cincinnati sent out the

first issue of the Centinel of the Northwest Territory, the first

newspaper to be published north of the Ohio River. While only

three years later, Maxwell's Code,¹ the first book to be published

in Ohio, came from the same press.

During the first two decades of the nineteenth century the

press spread rapidly in Ohio, and by 1824, the U. S. Postmaster

reported that out of 598 papers being published in the entire coun-

try, forty-eight were coming from Ohio, which, with the excep-

tion of Pennsylvania which could boast of 110, was well in ad-

vance of any of the surrounding states. The chief difficulty that

beset these early printers was not so much the procuring of ink,

type, and machinery, as the scarcity of paper; a deficiency that

made itself felt even in the editorial offices of the Literary Focus,

for in the issue for August, 1827, one finds the editors apologizing

for delayed publication and offering as an excuse:

 

1 Laws of the Territory of the United States, Northwest of the Ohio, Adopted

and Made by the Governor and Judges, in Their Legislative Capacity, at a Session

Begun on Friday the XXIX Day of May, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-

five, and Ending Tuesday, the 25th Day of August Following, with an Appendix of

Resolutions and the Ordinance of the Government of the Territory; by Authority.

(Cincinnati, 1796), 225p.

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO              107

 

The Focus, would have been issued earlier in the month, had our printer

not been disappointed in receiving paper. The publication of every journal

in the Western country is attended with this difficulty, unless the proprietor

happens to reside in the immediate vicinity of a paper mill.²

The first paper mill in the West was erected during the years

1791 to 1793, by Craig, Parkers & Co., of Royal Springs, George-

town, Kentucky, and William H. Venable in his Beginnings of

Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley, reports that "the first of the

numerous paper mills on the Miami river was erected in the year

1814."³ Type-founding was somewhat slower of development, as

the first of its kind to be established on the Ohio was that opened

by John P. Foote and Oliver Wells in Cincinnati, in 1820, and it

is entirely possible that the fonts used by the Societies' Press may

have come from there.

Thus, by the middle of the third decade of the nineteenth

century, literary activity in this region was growing apace; news-

papers, books, and periodicals, the latter frequently religio-literary

in character, were springing up like proverbial mushrooms, a par-

ticularly fortunate simile since so many of them were shallow-

rooted and ephemeral. All this, too, was being aided and abetted

by the considerable growth of industries essential to the printer's

craft: type-founding and paper-making. In such an atmosphere

it is small wonder that these ambitious youths, so recently come

to the halls of learning, should think of giving form in a tangible

way to their callow philosophies. So, in June of 1827, under what

seems to our unclassical minds an ostentatious slogan: "Stilus op-

timus et praestantissimus dicendi effector ac magister,"4 the Lit-

erary Focus, was launched, and Oxford's first publishing venture

had begun. From the standpoint of literary content it was, in-

deed, no unpretentious beginning. There can be no doubt that

literary ambition ran riot on the Miami campus. Even in the first

issue the editors feel constrained to apologize to the host of con-

tributors that limitations of space had necessitated rather rigid

selection. These "rejected addresses" have not been preserved

to posterity, and judging from those that did see the light of day

 

2 Literary Focus (Oxford, Ohio, 1827-28), August, 1827, 46.

3 William H. Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley;

Historical and Biographical Sketches (Cincinnati, 1891), 43.

4 Cicero, De Oratore, liber 1, cap. 33.

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108    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

in print, it may be just as well; for the boys' literary "reach" cer-

tainly exceeded their "grasp." But, literary criticism is without

the province of the present discussion; and, anyway, much ink has

already been spilled over the immaturity and self-consciousness

of style of these yellowed pages of the Focus. This is taking

rather unfair advantage of these ambitious young gentlemen; for

certainly no one, unless he has the genius of a John Keats or the

self-esteem of a Bernard Shaw, would in after-years be partic-

ularly eager to have his collegiate scribblings preserved for future

generations. At least the Focus was accorded the compliment of

plagiarism; witness this delicately feathered shaft from the pen

of the editors:

Literary piracy appears to be the prevailing theme for Editorial con-

tention. We do not desire to enter into the lists with any of our bretheren

of the press; but we can see no harm, after making our best bow to the

Editor of the Augusta Herald, in asking him where he met with the short

essay entitled "Independence of Mind" which appeared in his 47th number.⁵

From the standpoint of economics, the cards were, of course,

stacked against the venture from the beginning. Though in sub-

sequent issues the publication boasted a list of agents of some

dozen names in length in Ohio and Kentucky; and though there

seemed to be plenty of subscribers, some of whom resided else-

where than in Oxford, the payment of subscription fees seems to

have been a custom "more honored in the breach than the ob-

servance." Even the addition of a fifty-cent penalty to the regular

subscription price of one dollar was apparently futile in stimulat-

ing payment before the end of the year. As early as November,

the editors assert that: "The patronage afforded our little peri-

odical has fully equalled our most sanguine expectations; and

would be amply sufficient to defray all the expenses of publication,

were our friends as ready to pay as to subscribe."6 That there

were subscribers at least as far distant as Hamilton is evident

from the fact that sixty years later, Cyrus Falconer mentions vis-

its to that city which were not entirely unsuccessful attempts to

augment the subscription list.⁷

Prior to 1827, all university printing had been done in Ham-

 

5 Literary Focus, November, 1827, 114.

6 Ibid., 93.

7 Miami Journal (Oxford, Ohio), January, 1888.

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO         109

 

ilton by established print shops. In 1814, Keen and Stewart had

printed the laws passed by the Ohio State Legislature establishing

Miami University. A year later, the same organization, then

Keen and Colby, printed a report of the president and trustees of

of the university. While the first catalogue to be issued by Miami

came also from Hamilton, and from the press of James B. Cam-

ron. Thus, it was only natural that once the two literary societies,

Miami Union and Erodelphian, had decided to unite their efforts

to produce a literary periodical, and had appointed a joint com-

mittee to take the project in hand, that they should approach Cam-

ron in Hamilton for a printing contract, and as a result the Focus,

from June to November of 1827, bears the imprint of "James B.

Camron, Printer."

But the arrangement seems either not to have been entirely

satisfactory, or, what is more probable, the boys' ambitions were

suffering from growing pains. In any event, the issue for Novem-

ber carries the information that an old press had been procured,

and that thereafter the printing would be done at Oxford by the

boys themselves.⁸ This move the editors felt to be particularly

advantageous, for not only would the too frequent errors in proof-

reading be avoided, but a somewhat smaller type could be used,

and the monthly issue enlarged from sixteen to twenty-four pages.

Thus the worthy subscribers would get much more reading mat-

ter and there was to be no advance in price. Indeed the impecu-

nious editors would have been only too glad to accept the original

fee.

The new press was named appropriately enough, the Societies'

Press, with obvious reference to the two constituent literary so-

cieties, Erodelphian and Miami Union, while J. D. Smith seems

to have been the chief printer in charge, since his name appears

in the colophon at the end of each issue. The editorial committee

was elected by the two literary societies, so that the project was

actually a joint undertaking; but the editor-in-chief was Robert

Cumming Schenk, afterwards lawyer in the District of Columbia,

member of the House of Representatives, major-general in the

Civil War, and minister to England from 1871 to 1875. To

8 Literary Focus, November, 1827, 93.

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110    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Schenk went the large share of editorial responsibility, and his

contributions appeared probably more frequently than those of

anyone else.⁹

The newly acquired press itself was, of course, of the hand-

operated type, doubtless of cast iron construction similar to the

Stanhope, the Columbia, or the Washington hand-press, since the

mass production of these was at this time just beginning. At this

date the old wooden presses had become virtually obsolete through

the invention in the middle of the preceding century of a press

made almost entirely of iron by the Swiss typefounder, Wilhelm

Haas. Thus the way to quantity production was opened, and by

the early part of the nineteenth century a great number of these

presses were being produced in both England and America. The

Societies' press was, of course, of the flat-bed variety, for it was

not until 1814 that the first commercially successful cylinder press

was invented by Frederich Koenig of Saxony, while it was only

during the period under discussion that the London Times was

just beginning its extensive experiments with newer types of

higher speed machinery.

But with all the mechanical and literary improvements in the

Focus, its financial fortunes were showing no gains. Despite the

fact that the boys admitted editorially that they had learned much

since the project was inaugurated, they had evidently not learned

enough, for with the issue of May, 1828, they published the fol-

lowing rather hopeless financial statement:

Balance we are indebted for printing, stationary, and incidental ex-

penses ...................................................... $100.00.

Amount of cash in the treasury to defray these bills ....... 000.00.10

Such a statement could mean but one thing, and at the time

of its publication, after a parting wail directed toward the unpaid

subscribers, the Focus passed into the limbo of thwarted ambi-

tions. Thereafter, the members of the literary societies, relieved

of the burdens of publication, turned their ever active minds from

the graphic arts to the fine arts, and became involved in that affair

 

9 Miami Journal, loc. cit.

10 Literary Focus, May 1828.

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO          111

 

so delightfully characterized by Dr. Alfred H. Upham11 as "The

Portrait and the Bust,"--but that, of course, is another story.

However, one must not think that Oxford was to be without

a literary periodical, for, as early as March, 1828, with extinction

"just around the corner," the editors of the Focus, after a lengthy

discourse on the value of a weekly paper to a community, calmly

announced that Oxford would have one. It was to be called the

Literary Register; it was to supplant the dying Focus; it was to

bring the news of the day to the local countryside; the first issue

was to appear on Monday, June 2, 1828, and its price was to be

but two dollars annually12--hope indeed springs eternal. The

faculty of Miami, however, though they shared the optimism of

the boys as to the need in the community for such a publication,

felt "unwilling that young gentlemen under their care should en-

gage in any enterprises which might involve their parents and

relatives,"¹³ and in the issue of the Focus for May, 1828, an-

nounced that the forthcoming issues of the Register, would be

under the entire direction, both financial and editorial, of Presi-

dent Robert Hamilton Bishop and Professors William H. Mc-

Guffey and John E. Annan.

Thus, on Monday, June 2, 1828, the Literary Register, pub-

lished at the Societies' Press, by Smith, and in the same octavo

format of the old Focus, was born. For a time the Register did

appear to prosper, for in the issue of July 14 the editors happily

announce that "the number of subscribers to the Register con-

tinues to increase. Almost every arrival of the mail14 brings us

some names, and--shall we say it?--some money."¹⁵ The con-

tents of the publication did unquestionably hold more of interest

for the general reader than did the old Focus, and from every

standpoint it was a more meritorious publication. Some fifteen to

twenty agents were established throughout Ohio, Indiana, Ken-

tucky, and Pennsylvania, and the publication showed on the whole

11 Alfred H. Upham, Old Miami; the Yale of the Early West (Hamilton, Ohio,

1909), 66.

12 Literary Focus 169-71.

13 Ibid., May, 1828, 240.

14 It must be remembered that the mail arrived at quite infrequent intervals in

those days.

15 Literary Register (Oxford, Ohio, 1828-29), July 14, 1828, 108.

Vol. XLIV--8

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112    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

a reasonable degree of prosperity, though never, of course, any

great degree of opulence.

Though the work was still done on the Societies' press, others

were helping materially. With the issue of August 11, the name

of Smith is dropped, and the office of printer is taken up by Robert

H. Bishop, Jr., with the issue of September 8. With the issue of

September 24, the name of H. H. Harrison appears as printer, but

his interest was of apparently brief duration as his name is

dropped with the issue of October 27, and by December 20, he is

advertising as a tobacconist. One would like to think that this

fondness for tobacco had its inception in Miami's literary halls,

where the atmosphere must have been highly charged with the

polysyllabic ponderosities of forensic disputation and the blue haze

of tobacco smoke.

At best, however, the obligations of the Register weighed

heavily on the shoulders of the three Miami professors, so that

they were doubtless quite glad to relinquish the publication at the

end of the first volume into the hands of C. A. Ward and William

W. Bishop. This change of directorship, which took place with

the first issue of Volume II under date of December 20, 1828, in-

volved a number of improvements. The format was forthwith

changed from octavo to quarto, and advertisements were intro-

duced, albeit not without due apologies to the subscribers, for the

Focus and the old Register had kept their pages unsullied by such

commercialism. The publication, though it was now definitely

in private hands, was still regarded as a stepchild of the two lit-

erary societies, and it was accordingly decided that "a moiety of

the profits accruing from the publication should be appropriated

to the" treasuries of Erodelphian and Union.¹⁶ The payment of

subscriptions to the Register was also facilitated by the acceptance

of "all kinds of produce" in lieu of money, an arrangement now

thoroughly practicable since the enterprise was in private hands.

With this change in management came also the removal of

the old press from its room within "the college building" to the

recently opened book store of Ward and Bishop in "the yellow

 

l6 Ibid., June 27, 1829, 411.

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO          113

 

frame house on Main St., formerly occupied by Mr. Woodruff as

a taylor shop." At this location Ward and William W. Bishop,

the eldest son of President Robert Hamilton Bishop, established

a complete printing and publishing enterprise. Each issue of the

Register carries their advertisement, not only for the school texts

necessary for the students of the university, but also for job print-

ing of all kinds, and general book binding as well. For the mo-

ment, the outlook for the Register was somewhat encouraging; but

this transfusion of new blood into its veins was ultimately of no

avail, and at the conclusion of Volume II, with the issue of June

27, 1829, just two years after the inauguration of the Focus, un-

qualified defeat was acknowledged. The editors, admitting that

lack of patronage was the true cause but still heroically maintain-

ing that there was a real need for such a journal in the community,

were forced to the wall. It is true that the advertisements had

brought in some revenue, but unfortunately in those days there

was no Listerine or Lucky Strike with fat advertising contracts

to pull the financial chestnuts out of the fire, and the editors had

no alternative.

The demise of the Register effectively squelched all journalis-

tic activity of this sort in Oxford for a period of almost four

years. At the end of this time, however, the courage of William

W. Bishop had sufficient opportunity to revive, so that on Satur-

day, February 16, 1833, there appeared Volume I, number one,

of the Oxford Lyceum and Journal of Literature and Science, in

format much like volume two of the Register, and issued under

the editorship of William W. Bishop, with the assistance of An-

drew Noble, printer. The headquarters of the new Lyceum were,

of course, the Bishop print shop and book store, and the typog-

raphy was a product of the old Societies' press.

The Lyceum was modeled directly after the Register, was

issued every other Saturday, and was to be for all residents of

Oxford and the surrounding countryside; though, of course, it

drew largely for its support, both for contributions and subscrip-

tions, from the university and its students. Mr. James H. Roda-

baugh has admirably summarized the contents of this publication

when he asserts:

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114     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

In the pages of this paper were published advertisements, news items,

and essays or letters, usually from students. The advertisements of the

"Oxford Female High School" which had been established in 1831, and of

the "Oxford Female Academy" were carried in the paper. Here we find

an announcement of an "Oxford Circulating Library," of an Oxford Board

of Health, consisting of R. H. Bishop, W. H. McGuffey, J. R. Hughes, M.

D., M. C. Williams, M. D., and Samuel C. Rogers, "to make preparations

for an apprehended visit of the Cholera." Among the industries in Oxford

at the time, it was noted that Charles W. H. Temple was making fire en-

gines.

A great amount of the space allowed to the use of the students was

taken up with essays on "love-making."  One article signed "Monomaniac"

was entitled "Love." Another letter favored kissing and love-making after

the common hour for bedtime."17

The fortunes of the Lyceum were almost identical with those

of its predecessors, for in the issue of January 18, 1834, one finds

the editor complaining that: "It is frequently remarked that our

paper is not very good, and indeed some go so far as to say it is

worthless."18 The first volume of this periodical was complete

with the issue for February 1, 1834, which carried the following

editorial comment:

The editor being absent at the East, the second volume of the Lyceum

will not be commenced for some weeks, from which time it is contemplated

to issue it weekly. Additional assistance will be obtained in publishing the

Lyceum; and its character otherwise improved.19

On March 22, 1834, appeared the first issue of the Oxford

Chronicle, printed and published by William W. Bishop and An-

drew Noble, and under the general editorship of H. B. Mayo.

This publication is without doubt a continuation of the Lyceum,

though its format has been changed from quarto to a larger size

approaching that of the folio, and a new editor has been obtained.

Doubtless, also, these improvements are the ones referred to in

the final editorial of the Lyceum. The Chronicle was to have been

issued every Saturday, and in content is much like its immediate

predecessor. In launching this new and enlarged venture, the

editor says in part:

We present to the public today, in substitution of the Oxford Lyceum,

the first number of the Oxford Chronicle. We ask to be indulged while we

make a summary exception of some of our views. We do not claim to be-

17 James H. Rodabaugh, History of Miami University from Its Origin to 1845;

a thesis submitted in candidacy for the degree of Master of Arts (Oxford, Ohio,

1933), 106-7.

18 Oxford Lyceum and Journal of Literature and Science (Oxford, Ohio, 1833-34),

January 18, 1834, 200.

19 Ibid., February 1, 1834, 207.

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO                115

 

long to either of the existing parties--that is, the administration or the op-

position--for to these two forms all the elements of party are now reduced.

We design to give to the present administration, our support in all its

measures that we think will promote the public welfare--to oppose all that

seem to us to have a contrary tendency; but to be factious neither in our

support nor our opposition.20

It is further of interest to note that this same issue of the

Chronicle carries an advertisement for all types of job printing,

inquiries to be made at the office of the Chronicle on High Street.

Evidently Oxford journalism had outgrown the yellow frame

house on Main.

Just what fortunes befell the Chronicle, it is extremely diffi-

cult to say, for there are only two issues of the publication known

to the writer: Volume I, number one, March 22, 1834, and Vol-

ume I, number four, April 19, 1834, and the originals of both of

these are in the Museum of the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society. In any event, all this literary activity seems

not to have been pleasing to Hamilton contemporaries, for in the

opening issue of the Chronicle, the editors complain:

Upon the appearance of the last number of the Lyceum the editor of

the Hamilton Intelligencer indulged itself in a little sly jeering at its ex-

pense. We do not accuse the worthy editor of knowing that it was the

last.... He no doubt supposed it to be a case merely of suspended anima-

tion.... But sure we are that if the case had indeed been such, a resuscita-

tion inevitably must have followed the application of such galvanic power

of satire. But at the sight of the present enlarged sheet and altered form

he will discover that the truth is--it is simply a case of chrysalis transfor-

mation; and if the change works any improvement, let the said editor be-

ware how in future he shoots off his jokes in this direction, lest we shed our

skin again and emerge at length in the fair form and goodly proportions

of the erudite Intelligencer; and peradventure when we have put on the out-

ward shell thereof, we may strain our wits to catch some portion of the

flavor of the kernel.21

It seems reasonable to assume, however, that the Chronicle

did not survive the rigors of life for a very long period, certainly

not more than the customary year, if, indeed, that long.

Another bit of flotsam on the sea of Oxford print is the

Schoolmaster and Academic Journal, a semi-monthly, pedagogical

in character, published first on May 8, 1834, under the editorship

of Benjamin Franklin Morris. Only one copy of this is known,

and it is safely housed in the Widener library at Harvard Uni-

20 Oxford Chronicle (Oxford, Ohio, 1834-?), March 22, 1834.

21 Ibid.

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116    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

versity, an octavo of sixteen pages, format and internal evidence

giving every indication of its having been the product of the Bishop

press. The editor, Morris, graduated from Miami in 1832, at the

age of twenty-two. After receiving his theological training at

Lane Seminary, he occupied numerous pulpits in Congregational

and Presbyterian churches in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa.

In later years, however, he moved to Washington, District of Co-

lumbia, where he became engaged in the publication of The Chris-

tian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United

States, and the authorship of the life of Thomas Morris.

But to return to the known publications of the Societies'

Press, it must not be assumed that under its several managements,

there were printed only periodicals, for from it came all types of

printing, and doubtless a reasonable amount of job work. The

remains that have come down through the years, however, consist

largely of pamphlets. Of these there are known to be in exist-

ence some thirty items, bearing the imprints of either Smith,

William W. or Robert H. Bishop, Jr., Noble, or merely "The

Societies' Press." Most of these pamphlets were addresses and

sermons delivered at Miami University, before the graduating

classes or the literary societies, and in the neighboring churches.

A large proportion of them are, of course, by President Robert

Hamilton Bishop, but there are contributions from many others.

Here one finds John W. Scott discussing The Cholera; God's

Scourge for the Chastisement of Nations, or Chauncey N. Olds

on The Nature and Cultivation of a Missionary Spirit, and a host

of others including John McRae, John McArthur, Mayo, James

D. Cobb, Richard H. Coke, Samuel Galloway, and John P. Har-

rison. By this press were issued also the annual catalogues of the

officers and students of Miami University, job printing that must

have brought welcome revenue to the depleted coffers of the own-

ers of the press. At least four books came from the Societies'

Press, all by Dr. Robert Hamilton Bishop. His Manual of Logic,

in two editions, 1830 and 1831; The Elements of Logic, in 1833;

and Sketches of the Philosophy of the Bible, in the same year,

and later The Elements of the Science of Government, in 1839.

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO          11₇

 

All of these are in octavo form and vary in length from 109 to

305 pages.

The imprints of William W. Bishop stop during the year

1834, at which time he left Oxford and went West to seek new

fortunes. The old press, the book store, and all the appurte-

nances thereto were left in the care of Robert H. Bishop, Jr.,

who sometime previously had returned from Hanover College

where he had been teaching mathematics.

Robert H. Bishop, Jr., seems not to have shared the jour-

nalistic ambitions of his brother, for the imprints that bear his

name are largely confined to regular job work. His only relation

to any periodical venture being a brief connection as printer to

the Christian Intelligencer and Evangelical Guardian, during the

years 1837 to 1839, but more of that later.

In 1838, William W. Bishop returned to Oxford, and again

went into the old print shop and his imprints begin anew. Robert

H. Bishop, Jr., on the other hand, with matrimony and a profes-

sorship in Latin at the university in the offing, was doubtless

quite willing to relinquish his interest in the business.

The unbounded optimism of the frontier appears to have re-

juvenated the ambitions of the elder scion of the house of Bishop,

so that by May, 1839, he affiliated with a new venture, The West-

ern Peace-maker and Monthly Religious Journal. This newly-be-

gotten enterprise was under the editorship of Robert Hamilton

Bishop, Sr., Samuel Crothers, Calvin E. Stowe, Scott, and Thomas

E. Thomas, and had as its main function to bring together in har-

mony and unity the two opposing schools of the Presbyterian

Church. In this cause it was, indeed, a militant fighter, and its

rather dreary pages are filled with much serious discourse on the

virtue of mutual understanding and sympathy. As intimated, the

publication was begun with the issue for May, 1839, and survived

through nine bi-monthly issues, the last being that for September,

1840. In calling it a "monthly" religious journal the editors were

giving themselves the benefit of the doubt, for it was never issued

at such frequent intervals. It sold for twenty-five cents a copy,

$1.50 for twelve numbers in advance, or $2.00 if paid after the

publication of the sixth issue, and carried no advertising. At the

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118     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

outset, the editors were "much encouraged by a very considerable

number of communications from a distance, as well as from our

immediate neighbors, all highly approving our design."22 By

March of 1840, the editors announce that:

We have from different quarters and from different individuals, in

the last three months, had it suggested to us, that if we could change the

form of the Peace-Maker, and make it a weekly religious newspaper, its

circulation and patronage, and of course its use, would be greatly ex-

tended.23

But the editors showed remarkable fortitude in the face of

these public demands, and developed three very good reasons why

such a luxury as a weekly was not for them. In this same issue

the delinquent subscribers are warned: "that as this is the sixth

number, we expect all the payments due to be punctually for-

warded."24   Further, at the close of the eighth number there is

an item captioned, "I Must Pay My Debts," which may, or may

not, be taken as a hint. In any event, the demise of the publica-

tion was not far distant.

In the year 1840 the West again called William W. Bishop,

and definite knowledge of the peregrinations of the Societies'

Press comes to an abrupt termination. Internal evidence seems to

indicate rather strongly that the press passed into the hands of

one John B. Peat; but such a conclusion should not be pushed too

far for it is based on pure conjecture. It is known, however, that

his imprints begin at this time, and that the work he was doing

was exactly the same sort as that carried out by the Bishop

brothers. It is further known, on the authority of a son and

daughter of Robert H. Bishop, Jr.,²⁵ that when William W. Bishop

turned westward for the second time he did not take his printing

equipment with him, but left it in the care of his brother, to be

disposed of to the best advantage. From Peat's press came nu-

merous addresses before the various Miami societies, the sixteenth

annual catalogue of the university, as well as sermons by Presi-

dent Robert Hamilton Bishop. The most important evidence of

 

22 Western Peace-maker (Oxford, Ohio, 1839-40), May, 1839, 91.

23 Ibid., March 1840, 274.

²⁴ Ibid., March, 1840, 276.

25 Mr. Peter and Miss Helen Bishop, of Oxford, Ohio. In fairness it should be

added that neither of them can recall ever having heard their father speak of John

B. Peat. So far as they are concerned he is a totally unknown character.

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO             11₉

 

all, however, is the fact that while the first eight issues of the

Peace-maker carry the name of William W. Bishop as printer, the

last bears that of Peat. But who he was, where he came from,

and where he went after 1841, no one seems to know.

Up to the present point, the course has been reasonably well

charted. It is true that there are numerous unanswered questions

for which one would wish a more complete explanation. But, on

the whole, up to the time of the appearance of the Peat imprints,

our knowledge of essentials is fairly adequate. From now on,

however, we must seek our way through more troubled waters

with fewer aids to guide us. From now on, conjecture must nec-

essarily play an increasingly important part, and our only alter-

native is to go by the best light we have, and hope that our light

be not darkness.

In January of 1829, there appeared from the printing presses

in Hamilton, a publication known as the Christian Intelligencer

and Evangelical Guardian, by an Association of Ministers of the

Associate Reformed Synod of the West. This publication was

under the general editorship of David MacDill, of Rossville and

Hamilton, was printed in those towns by various hands, and as-

sumed some importance in the realm of theological literature in

its section of the country. The fact that the Intelligencer existed

over a period of eighteen years is ample testimony to the fact that

it was no abortive journalistic enterprise. It remained, however,

as a Hamilton publication until the issue for March, 1837 (It was

a monthly.), when the editors announced:

The first number of the next volume will be issued early in the en-

suing month. We can with confidence say, that Mr. Christy, who has con-

sented to become publisher and proprietor, will strive to give entire satis-

faction in his department. Hereafter all orders for the work, and all com-

munications respecting the business department are to be addressed to

David Christy, Oxford, Ohio, to whom all payments are made for future

volumes....26

Accordingly, the April issue begins new series number one,

of the eighth volume, and bears the imprint of David Christy at

Oxford as the publisher, but the printing, i. e. stereotyping, was

done at Cincinnati. However, with the issue of June, 1837, the

 

26 Christian Intelligencer (Hamilton, Rossville and Oxford, Ohio, 1829-47), March,

1837, 381-82.

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120    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

printing responsibility was assumed by Robert H. Bishop, Jr., at

the old Societies' Press, and the Intelligencer became more than

ever an Oxford publication.

David (Cotton-Is-King) Christy, born in 1802, needs no in-

troduction to students of Ohio Valley history. Anti-slavery writer,

geologist, and publisher, he is known chiefly for his efforts in the

colonization movement in Ohio. In 1848 he was appointed agent for

the American Colonization Society of Ohio, and was instrumental

in inducing Charles McMicken of Cincinnati, and others, in contrib-

uting toward the purchase of a tract of land in Africa, lying be-

tween Sierra Leone and Liberia, for the colonization of the free

colored laborer, this tract being known as "Ohio in Africa." In

the interests of this cause he did much lecturing and publishing,

even appearing before the Ohio State Legislature. His most im-

portant book, however, was a direct outgrowth of the agitation

over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the attacks of the abolitionists

on slavery, and was entitled, Cotton Is King; or the Economical

Relations of Slavery, which appeared in 1855. This essay went

through three editions and attracted favorable comment. It was

followed in 1857 by a pamphlet, Ethiopia: Her Gloom and Her

Glory. In his travels about the country as agent he became greatly

interested in geology, and in later years worked with considerable

success along that line. In 1867 he was engaged in the prepara-

tion of a book on, Geology Attesting Christianity.

Though the author of the sketch in the Dictionary of Ameri-

can Biography, Mr. Reginald C. McGrane, creates the impression

that Christy was entirely a Cincinnati man, it is nevertheless true,

as stated above, that he came from Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio,

to Oxford in 1837, where he was quite actively engaged in the

publishing business until 1841.

With the issue of the Intelligencer for December, 1837, the

publishing as well as the printing was turned over to Robert H.

Bishop, Jr., in whose hands it remained until the issue for April,

1839, announced:

The present number closes the 9th volume of the Christian Intelli-

gencer. We are authorized to state that Mr. John Christy, brother of David

Christy, has made an arrangement to become our publisher, to commence

with the next volume. As his attention will be exclusively devoted to it, a

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO               121

 

confident hope is indulged that the execution will be every way worthy of

the character and patronage of the Christian Intelligencer. Having, with

this in view removed with his family to Oxford, at the instance of his

brother, and with the expectation that the work would continue to be

liberally patronized by the Associate Reformed Synod of the West,

we hope there will be no decay of exertion to sustain it. Within a few

months he may remove his office to Rossville.27

By this time Robert H. Bishop, Jr., was abandoning the print-

ing business so that thereafter the Intelligencer was no longer is-

sued from the Societies' Press. As a result the April, 1841, issue

announces:

The publisher of the Christian Intelligencer has made arrangements

to remove his office to Rossville, from which place the next number will

be issued. Among the advantages of the proposed change it is hoped that

errors of the press can be more easily prevented.28

The publisher referred to is, of course, John Christy, so that

by 1841 both Christy families were leaving Oxford. The Intelli-

gencer, it might be added, survived until May, 1847, at which time

the editor, MacDill, took up work with the United Presbyterian

and Evangelical Guardian.

One other publishing enterprise of David Christy remains

to be discussed. On June 1, 1835, while still at Cadiz, he began

the publication of the Calvinistic Family Library, the purpose

of which was "to furnish the standard works of Calvinistic di-

vines at the cheapest rate, and in such form that all the numbers

issued in a year can be conveniently bound up in one volume."29

Of this Library, Volume I, numbers one to twenty-six, were is-

sued at Cadiz, from June 1, 1835, to February 15, 1837, and the

only copy known to the writer exists in the library of the Western

Reserve Historical Society. In the spring of 1837, with the re-

moval of David Christy to Oxford, work was begun on the second

volume, and in 1838, there was published, Lectures on Theology,

by John Dick, published under the superintendence of his son,

with a biographical introduction by an American editor, printed

and published by David Christy at Oxford, and stereotyped by J.

A. James and Co., at Cincinnati. It is a sizable volume of five

hundred seventy-three pages, bound in calf.

 

27 Ibid., April 1839, 576.

28 Ibid., April, 1841, 527.

29 Ibid., April, 1837, 45.

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122    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

This venture, however, appears to have been not entirely suc- cessful, for in the Intelligencer for August, 1840, there appears an "Address to the Christian Public on the Subject of the Cal- vinistic Book Concern," signed by Andrew Heron, president, and Hugh M'Millan, secretary, which says in part: Probably you have all heard of the Calvinistic Family Library, and we know that many of you have been connected with it, and have given it your decided approbation. The publication of the work was commenced at Cadiz, and afterwards transferred to Oxford, Ohio. Conducted ex- clusively by individual effort, and resting wholly on individual responsi- bility, experience has shown that it could not be effectively sustained in the present pecuniary pressure. In order, therefore, to continue the pub- lication, and to give it efficiency and permanency, a Joint Stock Company has been organized, to whom the interest of the former proprietors has been transferred.30 The name of the joint stock company was the Calvinistic Book Concern; a board of directors was to be elected annually by the stockholders, and "their place of meeting and operation was to be wherever it shall best promote the objects of the Associa- tion. For the present it is Xenia, Green County, Ohio."31 Inspired by the Calvinistic Family Library, David Christy promoted a sister enterprise which was advertised in the Christian Intelligencer for April, 1837. It was known as the Historical Family Library, and as the title suggests, had as its function the furnishing of useful history in small semi-monthly portions at a price within the reach of everyone who might have the desire to read. But little is known concerning this venture. Volume I was published at Cadiz in 1835-6, and contains: Hallam's History of the State of Europe During the Middle Ages. Chamber's Rebellion in Scotland. Robertson's History of the Settlement of the Colonies of Virginia and New England. Russell's History of the French and English War in America. Ramsay's History of the American Revolution (partly abridged). The second volume of the series, containing Sir William F. P. Napier's Peninsular War, was published from Oxford in 1838. This is a quarto volume of five hundred four pages, calf bound. Then in the same year appeared the first volume of what might be called the piece de resistance of all Oxford publishing ventures:   30 Ibid., August, 1840, 186. 31 Ibid., August, 1840, 185-86.

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO                 123

Guizot's Gibbon. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- pire, by Edward Gibbon. A new edition revised and corrected throughout, preceded by a preface, and accompanied by notes, critical and historical relating principally to the propagation of Christianity, by M. F. Guizot, Minister of Public Instruction of the Kingdom of France. The preface, notes, and corrections, translated from the French expressly for this edition, with a sketch of the life of Gibbon. In two volumes. Oxford, Ohio, pub- lished by David Christy, stereotyped by J. A. James, Cincinnati, 1838[-1841. 271/2cm. In 2 vols., as III and IV of the Historical Family Library]. This monument of erudition brought to a close, apparently, the Historical Family Library, for, to the writer's knowledge, no further volumes were undertaken, and Oxford's literary ambi- tions, first brought to a focus in 1827, declined and fell with the Roman Empire in 1841. As has been noted, the imprint on Dick's Theology specifically states that the work was printed and published in Oxford, by Da- vid Christy, and stereotyped in Cincinnati by James. This in itself is not particularly strong evidence that the actual work of com- position was carried out by Christy, since the terms "printing" and "publishing" were loosely and interchangeably used in that day as they sometimes are in this. But this evidence of Christy as a bona fide printer is given added corroboration by an old ac- count book that has recently been acquired by the Miami Univer- sity Library. During the period under discussion there was working in Oxford a cabinet-maker by the name of Reuben E. Hills, and in the pages of his account book to which reference has just been made are found the following entries charged to David Christy under date of 1839: Jan. 23.  To  cylinder  for  press.....................................                                   1.50 29. To press furniture ............................................62 To ink stand ................................................1.00 Feb. 10. To press furniture ............................................25 and so on throughout this and succeeding years for a considerable number of like or comparable items. Also under the name of John Christy are found entered for the same year: Sept. 25.  To  two  type case stands ..................................                               8.00 Oct. 1. To press furniture .............................................25 Hills was also doing work for William W. Bishop, to whom during this same period a considerable quantity of press furniture was supplied and paid for by advertisements.

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124    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Here is, then, rather conclusive evidence that both the Chris-

tys were actually themselves doing the work of type-setting and

printing, and it is reasonable to suppose that the materials that

have come down to us bearing their imprints were actually com-

posed by them, though as previously stated such stereotyping as

was done was evidently carried out in Cincinnati.

To understand somewhat more clearly just the relationship

that existed between these Oxford printers and the house of

James, it is well to consider for a moment the general principle

of the stereotype process, if a slight but relevant digression will

be pardoned.

Though the origin of this process is somewhat in doubt, its

invention is usually attributed to the Edinburgh goldsmith, Wil-

liam Ged, who developed a basic procedure of this sort sometime

during the first quarter of the eighteenth century. Improve-

ments, however, came rather slowly, and stereotyping was first

introduced into this country not until 1813, and the first American

book to be so printed was the New Testament that came from the

press of David Bruce in 1814. Briefly explained, the process of

stereotyping consists in making an impression of the type page

with an especially prepared thick paper. This paper, called a

flong, is made by pasting together several sheets of strong tissue

paper and a thick blotting-like paper with a prepared paste. This

sheet, while in a soft pulp state, is laid on the form, covered with

a felt blanket, and the whole put into a strong press, heated by

steam or hot air, and allowed to set and dry. When the matrix

thus formed is hardened it is removed and placed in the casting

box, and the plate made by pouring the casting metal in. A stere-

otype plate is obviously inferior in quality to the electrotype, both

because of the rather unsubstantial nature of the paper matrix

and the inferior quality of the stereotype metal. It has two ad-

vantages, however, and these are speed and economy of produc-

tion, so that even today it is still used in newspaper work. From

this cursory explanation it would seem logical to assume that after

the type had been set up in Oxford, the Christys themselves very

probably proceeded with the making of the papier mache matrix,

which, after hardening, was sent to Cincinnati to be cast. Of

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO         125

 

course, once the matrix had been made the type could be re-dis-

tributed and the setting up of another portion of the book under

preparation could be commenced. In this manner the Christys

would be enabled to print without difficulty two volumes as large

as the Gibbon, with a comparatively small amount of type. After

the plates had been cast at Cincinnati, it is quite likely that they

would be sent to Oxford for the completion of the printing

process. By and large, with the inefficient means of communica-

tion available at the time, this process must have been a rather

long and tedious one, but it was about the only way that men with

such limited facilities as Oxford afforded could undertake such

ambitious projects with any assurance of success.

Also during 1839 there was working in Oxford, one Charles

Smith, bookbinder, who had had work done by the cabinet-

maker, Hills, from whom were obtained, among other things,

pressboards and a table. This account, it is noted, was "settled

through J. James, Cincinnati," which suggests a rather close re-

lationship between Smith and James, and a possibility that the

former might have been doing some of the binding of the vol-

umes under discussion. But our specific knowledge of Smith is

limited entirely to the entry in the Hills account book, and he is

as vague and shadowy a figure as is Peat.

In conclusion, what of the importance of the documents that

have been herein reviewed from the standpoint of typography?

As specimens of the printer's art, their position is, of course, of

little consequence. There was no great variety of type faces in

the fonts of the Societies' Press, and the small type used, set solid

or only slightly leaded, make the pages of these publications un-

inviting indeed. But this is not said in disparagement. Typog-

raphy of this sort is typical of the entire period, no matter where

it was produced. With the dawn of printing in the Western hemi-

sphere the early designers of the book had to compete with the

excellent work of the scribes, and thus these cradle books com-

pare favorably in typographical achievement with contemporary

illuminated manuscrips. But after 1500, such competition was

no longer necessary, most of the scribes being dead, and the stand-

ard of printing was thus lowered to a remarkable degree. This

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126     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

downward movement was given added impetus with the coming

of the industrial revolution. Paper was robbed of its surface,

strength, and durability; inks were inferior; bookbinding was less

substantial and beautiful; and type and ornamental designs were

at their lowest ebb. It was in the midst of this era of decadence

that the Societies' Press was operating, for the renaissance in the

printer's art that we enjoy today was largely the result of the

work of William Morris at the Kelmscott Press during the 1890's.

The rigid Calvinistic atmosphere of Oxford in the early half

of the nineteenth century was certainly not encouraging to the

production of an iconoclast in artistic book design. As Miami's

President Upham has wisely said:

Cultivation of the arts seems to have been less common in Miami's

past than that of the spiritual life. Professor McGuffey knew and loved

good poetry and forensic prose. Dr. Bishop unwittingly posed for the

first great work of sculpture executed by Hiram Powers. He and David

Swing had rare taste in architecture, as evidenced by the homes they built

adjoining the university campus. The prospect of the rolling wooded hills

to be seen from the tower must always have served as an inspiration. But

the total impression is rather dull, and we cannot forget that someone,

fortunately unknown, was responsible for the castiron porches on the

Main Building.32

Certainly it is not because of any artistic achievement that

these publications merit consideration.     But they are far from

being without value, for they present in a concrete tangible form

the spirit of the age that produced them. They are the very em-

bodiment of the limitless optimism of the frontier, the urge to

create, to give to the world something of importance, the impulse

to achieve. Their promulgators must have known, if they had

pondered the matter but for a moment, that their efforts would be

largely in vain. Yet, like Edmond Rostand's immortal Cyrano:

What say you? . . . That it is useless? . . . Don't I know?

But valiant hearts contend not for successes

It's nobler to defend a hopeless cause.

Herein, for us, lies the value of these documents: that they

recreate the spirit that founded Miami, and the westward flow of

American cultural ideals that it represents, and that they help to

bring one a step closer to an appreciation of the indomitable

courage of the pioneer.

32 Alfred H. Upham, Address to the Faculty of Miami University, at the Opening

of the Academic Year 1929-30 (Oxford, Ohio, 1929), 10.

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HISTORY OF PRINTING, OXFORD, OHIO         127

 

It must be confessed that in tracing this sketch there have

been many unanswered questions. One longs to know more,

much more, of that old press itself, where it came from and

whence it went, and of, the men who manned it. Let it be hoped

that the future will be more generous in yielding up the secrets of

the past. But for the present, at least, one has reached the end

of the trail, and perforce must be content, for, though one may

cry out with Goethe's Faust:

Wohin der weg?

one receives in return naught but Mephistopheles' unreassuring

reply:

Kein weg--Ins Unbetretene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vol. XLIV--9

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