A Little Massachusetts Sabbath School Society History

The Massachusetts Sabbath School Society published Arthur Hamilton, and His Dog. It turns out that the Society was a very prolific publisher. A little research revealed scores of titles created under its imprint in the 1800s.

I also found a partial copy of an 1833 MSSS offering via Google. You can see the actual text here. The Sabbath School Visiter probably won't make our list here at Discover Them, but it is neat to see an original.

Some authors wrote multiple books for the Society. Here's an example, taken from a "Letter from Dr. Grosvenor..." which is quite interesting. Here's an excerpt (links added & not in original):

"My grandmother, the daughter of Thayer S. Sanborn (Mrs. Harriet Ward Sanborn Grosvenor), born in Hampton Falls in 1823, married Edwin Prescott Grosvenor, M.D., of Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1843, and four years later, when only 24, she wrote a little book, "My Sister Emily," published by the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, and she continued to write books, published by this Society until her death in 1863, her husband meanwhile having died seven years previously.

"I have a list of about fifteen of her books that were published by the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society. On the chance that you may be interested, I enclosed a list of the copies of her books that I have. It may be she wrote others also. There is no mention in "The History of Hampton Falls" of this brilliant young authoress. From the day she was married she lived in Newburyport.

Another Must-Read for Those Interested in Serialization

The New York Public Library has a great article reminding us about the move toward serialized fiction in England during the era of Dickens. "When is a Book Not a Book? Oliver Twist in Context" has a few things to say to those non-historians who think that "first edition" bound copies are the true originals of some great tales when, in fact, serialization was the order of the day for many books now considered classics.

Here's an excerpt from the fine NYPL article. I strongly recommend you read the whole thing (links in the excerpt were placed by Discover Them):

"But dealers, collectors, museums, libraries, bibliographers, textual scholars, and the general public have been conditioned to think of the book as the substantial, first publication of most serials, from Dickens's Pickwick Papers to Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim. Books have authors who are solely responsible for their contents—Charles Dickens, for example, even though those "early state" title pages of the "exceptionally fine copy" of Oliver Twist identify the author not as Charles Dickens but as what was then a well-known pseudonym, "Boz." And books get passed down through the generations, while periodicals are tossed out by families or broken up for the prints by dealers or reduced to microfilm, -form, or -fiche by librarians. The book is semipermanent and simply displaces the format in which the text first appeared. This is true for virtually every magazine serial, not just fiction, but also history, theology, biography, philosophy, criticism, and other genres which, as Saintsbury reminds us, were often in the nineteenth century first published in installments in periodicals."

On book serialization...

Hope you're enjoying Arthur Hamilton, And His Dog.

I thought I'd interrupt by sharing a great resource with those of you who are interested in the serialization of literature. "Serialized Fiction in the Victorian Era" is a fantastic read!

I won't go over every detail, but will tell you that this multi-section report is comprehensive and chock-full of fascinating information.

Here's an excerpt, after this wets your whistle, go read all of "Serialized Fiction in the Victorian Era" (links within excerpt mine):

"During the Victorian Era (1837-1901), in England, a publishing trend rose to popularity in the world of the novel called serialized fiction. The greatest novelists of the time, including Charles Dickens, George Eliot, William Thackeray and Joseph Conrad, chose to publish their newest works of fiction in installments. These installments ran in popular magazines and newspapers or were produced in cheaply bound sections over a period of many months. Because this format was more affordable, people outside of the upper class could purchase books for the first time. The publishing phenomenon sparked a growth not only in the number of people desiring to read, but also in literacy rates."

Arthur Hamilton, and His Dog - 2

She had known many days of worldly prosperity,
since she had resided in that little cottage; but of late, trials had
multiplied; and days and nights of heart-crushing sorrow had been
appointed unto her. He who should have shared life's trials and
lightened their weight, had proved recreant to his trust, and was now
wandering, she knew not whither; and poverty was staring the deserted
family in the face. Debts had accumulated, and though Mrs. Hamilton had
done all that could be done to meet the emergency, though she had
labored incessantly, and borne fatigue and self-denial, with a brave and
cheerful spirit, it had been found necessary to leave the home so dear
to her,--the home where she had been brought a fair and youthful bride;
where she had spent many happy years, and which was endeared to her by
so many sweet and hallowed, as well as painful, associations. Every foot
of the green meadow, the orchard on the hill, and the pasture lying
beyond, was dear to her; and it was painful to see them pass into other
hands. But that heaviest of all the trials which poverty brings to the
mother's heart, was hers also. The conviction had been forced upon her,
that she must separate the children, and find other homes for such as
were old enough to do any thing for themselves. This necessary
separation had now taken place.