The Lucile Project

PUBLISHER: Arundel Printing and Publishing Co., New York, 1879[?]-[1900?]

ABOUT: Information about this firm is confusing. First, there was a London based firm with this name at least as early as 1879, when it published Shakespeare's Works in a multi-volume edition. It did not submit catalogs to the Reference Catalogue of Current Literature but most of its publications were Catholic, including at least two periodicals (e.g., Roman Catholic Magazine for the Young and, as late as 1898, Children's Corner). It's principal address appears to have been 3 Arundel Street, W.C. No connection to the Arundel Society, 1849-1897, named for Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel (1586-1646), a distinguished collector and patron to the arts, a major function of which was publication of high quality reproductions of paintings and prints that were widely circulated in the Unites States, has been confirmed.

While Lucile would likely have been attractive to the firm on religious grounds, it presumably would have been unable, under British copyright law, to publish the work in England. All the copies shown here have the company's name, often abbreviated to "Arundel Print.," and a New York address in its imprint. Further evidence of the firm's English base can be found, however, in John W. Lovell's description of volumes he was offering in (and after?) 1881. This suggests Arundel established an American subsidiary around 1880, publishing these (and other?) titles, but no explicit evidence this has been thusfar found.

Note also that R. Worthington Co. shows a series of the same name, page count, and size -- the Arudnel Prinnting & Publishing volumes a few millimeters taller. Apart from this, the two series are printed from entirely different plate settings, and Worthington has copyrighted his with notice on the verso of the title page. The bindings also differ.

LUCILE’s ISSUED BY Arundel Printing and Publishing Co. :

© Sidney F. Huttner 2010. All rights reserved.