Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Bibliographical Note
- Introduction
- 1 A Bookish Profession
- 2 Birth of the Law Book Trade
- 3 Spreading the Word: Catalogues and Cultivation
- 4 Bidding for Law Books
- 5 Risk, Subscriptions, and Status
- 6 John Livingston, Esq.: Law Bookseller as Cultural Entrepreneur
- 7 Conclusion: Selling the Law in Antebellum America
- Index
- References
3 - Spreading the Word: Catalogues and Cultivation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Bibliographical Note
- Introduction
- 1 A Bookish Profession
- 2 Birth of the Law Book Trade
- 3 Spreading the Word: Catalogues and Cultivation
- 4 Bidding for Law Books
- 5 Risk, Subscriptions, and Status
- 6 John Livingston, Esq.: Law Bookseller as Cultural Entrepreneur
- 7 Conclusion: Selling the Law in Antebellum America
- Index
- References
Summary
EARLY CATALOGUES
In 1859 Daniel Mulford Valentine, a twenty-nine-year-old resident of Fontanelle, Iowa, decided to study law. He thought about going to Cincinnati to study at the law college there, but this was impractical given his wife and new child. Eventually, he moved to Kansas and prospered, becoming a justice of the Supreme Court in 1869. But in this pivotal year of his life, he was just beginning the systematic study of law. Unfortunately, for him, Fontanelle was a small farming community, and there were no bookstores from which to purchase the basic texts he needed to study law. Fortunately for him, however, by 1859 the largest law booksellers and publishers across the eastern United States had already been in the business of selling every text a young lawyer might need by mail. In his diary for 1859, Valentine recorded his utter delight at receiving a number of booksellers' catalogues for free and his concomitant ability to purchase law texts through the mail. He dealt with booksellers in Chicago, New York, and Boston, including Banks & Co. From them, he purchased all the law texts he would eventually study and master.
The sale of law books through printed catalogues dates back in the English-speaking world at least to the early part of the seventeenth century. Catalogues served several purposes. They were a form of advertising that let potential customers browse their stock without actually coming to the store.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Legal Publishing in Antebellum America , pp. 74 - 104Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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