Ticknor and Company Book Catalog (1887) — Key Ideas to Explore

Binding as a Marker of Value

The catalog treats binding as a primary selling point. For Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia, the cloth edition costs $6.00, while antique morocco or tree-calf doubles the price to $10.00. Similarly, George Arnold's Poems appears in cloth at $1.50, half-calf at $3.00, and morocco antique or tree-calf at $4.00. This tiered pricing appears throughout, suggesting that Ticknor and Company expected customers to choose based on budget or display preferences. The catalog also notes a limited large-paper edition of the American-Actor Series, “especially adapted to the use of collectors and bibliophiles,” indicating a niche market for deluxe sets.

Fiction and Nonfiction Side by Side

The catalog interleaves novels with reference works and essays. Jane G. Austin's A Nameless Nobleman (seventh edition, $1.00) appears near Maturin M. Ballou's Genius in Sunshine and Shadow ($1.50) and Truman H. Bartlett's The Art-Life of William Rimmer ($10.00). This arrangement suggests that Ticknor and Company marketed to a general reader interested in both entertainment and self-improvement. The “New Books” section at the end highlights Edith Robinson's Forced Acquaintances, described by “a famous American author” as “after the style of Miss Austen,” alongside S. Arthur Bent's Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men, called “indispensable to students, writers, and libraries.”

The Catalog as a Historical Artifact

Beyond its listings, the catalog reveals late-19th-century literary tastes and commercial strategies. The American-Actor Series, edited by Laurence Hutton, collects biographies of figures like Edwin Forrest and the Booths, reflecting a popular interest in theatrical personalities. The inclusion of works on Persia, Parisian art, and ancient art indicates a market for cosmopolitan knowledge. The catalog also promotes series like the “English and Foreign Philosophical Library” and the “Olden-Time Series,” which packages six volumes on New England curiosities in a box for $3.00. These series suggest that Ticknor and Company cultivated repeat buyers through themed collections.

Readers approaching this catalog should treat it as a primary source for book history, not as a narrative. The prices, bindings, and series groupings offer concrete evidence of what a Boston publisher believed would sell in 1887. Pay attention to the placement of new titles and the language used to describe them—these details illuminate the marketing strategies of the period.

There’s something tender about old catalogs, how they hold worlds we can’t quite touch. I felt that leafing through Ticknor’s 1887 list—so many quiet promises in cloth bindings. It reminded me of another curious doorway, The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels Given to the New York Public Library By Dr. Frank P. O'Brien — A Reader’s Guide, where cheap stories carry their own gentle weight. Both linger like a half-remembered afternoon.