PUBLISHER: Ticknor & Fields and Its Successors
ABOUT: This is an introductory page for an account of this firm's publication of Lucile beginning in 1860 and continuing through successor firms.
LUCILE’s ISSUED BY Ticknor & Fields and Its Successors:
Lucile's longest thread of continuing publication is
Ticknor & Fields (1854-1868)
Fields, Osgood & Co. (1868-1870)
J.R. Osgood & Co. (1871-1878)
Houghton, Osgood & Co. (1878-1880)
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (1880-1908), and
Houghton Mifflin Company (1908--).
In 1880, Osgood formed a second:
J.R. Osgood & Co. (1880-1885), which became
Ticknor & Co. (1885-1889),
which merged with Houghton, Mifflin in 1889. Between 1880 and 1889, Osgood/Ticknor and Houghton, Mifflin had competing editions of Lucile.
For images and information on surviving copies, see the files for individual firms.
A summary of Ticknor & Fields and Successors editions of Lucile has images of most cloth binding styles. Known copies of Meredith's Poems or Poetical Works (which contain Lucile) are described in each publisher's file, but are also summarized in a separate file (Works)
Michael Winship's work with the Ticknor & Fields archive at the Houghton Library, Harvard, reveals the following information about the number of copies of various editions of Lucile printed between 1860 and 1878:
Blue & Gold Edition: 2550 copies printed 1860; stereotyped in 1862 with plates used for 32 printings totaling 32,486 copies (35,036 copies in all). The 1860 edition was reviewed in the New York Times (as well as other newspapers and magazines).
Cabinet Edition: 17 printings from 1865 totaling 12,761 copies.
8vo Illustrated Edition: 5 printings from 1867 totaling 5,748 copies.
Diamond Edition: 16 printings from 1869 totaling 29,498 copies.
Red Line Edition: 9 printings from 1869 totaling 11,290 copies.
New Illustrated Edition: 3 printings 1871-1872 totaling 4,050 copies.
Total in these editions, 1860-1878: 98,382.
The 8vo Illustrated Edition was discontinued by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. in 1880; the Cabinet Edition in 1883; the Illustrated Paper Edition in 1884; the Blue & Gold and Diamond Editions in 1886; and the Red Line Edition in 1887. Each of these formats was routinely offered in several bindings: cloth (usually in several colors), half calf, tree calf, antique morocco, etc.
In 1881, Osgood introduced his elaborately iIllustrated "Holiday" edition. Two years later, using selected illustrations from the Holiday edition, he introduced two smaller versions, the Tremont (issued both with and without red lines), and Pocket Editions. The Holiday, Tremont, and Pocket editions were continued by Ticknor & Co., which also introduced the "New and Cheaper" Octavo Poets in 1887. These editions are also found with Houghton, Mifflin imprints (and see Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Company who issued at least three editions with its imprint in England). Houghton Mifflin offered Lucile or Meredith's Works, or both, each year through 1930. No editions were offered in Houghton Mifflin's Publishers' Trade List Annual (PTLA) catalogs in 1931 or later.
PTLA began publication in 1873 and included the catalogs of the first James R. Osgood & Co. and all successor firms. Unfortunately, none of these firms illustrated their catalogs with cuts of typical binding designs, as many other publishers did from the late 1880s. Consequently, it is not always possible to associate known copies with specific editions with complete confidence.
Last revised: 18 March 2011