{{Short description|American publishing company}} {{prose|date=April 2017}} {{Use American English|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox publisher | image = D. Appleton & Company logo.jpg | founded = 1825<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|title=Century to Merge with Appleton & Co.; Two of the Oldest Publishing Houses in Nation Being United by Stockholders. Hiltman to be Chairman W.M. Shuster Will Be President of New Company — Project Long Under Consideration. (Published 1933)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/03/18/archives/century-to-merge-with-appleton-co-two-of-the-oldest-publishing.html|access-date=February 5, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 18, 1933|url-access=subscription}}</ref> | founder = Daniel Appleton | defunct = 1933 | successor = {{plainlist| * D. Appleton-Century Co. (1933–1948) * Appleton-Century-Crofts (1948) }} | country = United States | headquarters = New York City, New York, U.S. | keypeople = {{plainlist| * William Henry Appleton * George Swett Appleton }}}} '''D. Appleton & Company''' was an American publishing company founded by Daniel Appleton, who opened a general store which included books. He published his first book in 1831. The company's publications gradually extended over the entire field of literature. It issued the works of contemporary scientists, including those of Herbert Spencer, John Tyndall, Thomas Huxley, Charles Darwin, and others, at reasonable prices. Medical books formed a special department, and books in the Spanish language for the South America market, including the works of Rafael Pombo, were a specialty which the firm made its own. In ''belles lettres'' and American history, it had a strong list of names among its authors.<ref>{{cite Americana|wstitle=Appleton, Daniel}}</ref>
On June 2, 1933, D. Appleton & Company merged with The Century Company.<ref>{{cite news |title=Granted Charter |date=June 2, 1933 |publisher=Times Union |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=11 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/times-union-granted-charter/159899406/ |access-date=November 27, 2024}}</ref>
== Timeline == * 1813 Relocated from Haverhill to Boston and imported books from England * 1825 Relocated New York City and entered the book business with brother-in-law Jonathan Leavitt<ref name=nyt /> * 1831 Published first book: ''Crumbs from the Master's Table''<ref>{{cite web|date=February 7, 2012|title=1831---House of Appleton|url=http://paperbarn.www1.50megs.com/publishers/a.html#1825---HOUSE%20OF|website=Major American Publishers|publisher=The Hyde Park Book Store|access-date=September 14, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060519045053/http://paperbarn.www1.50megs.com/publishers/a.html#1825---HOUSE%20OF|archive-date=May 19, 2006}}</ref> by William Mason (1719–1791) * 1848 Daniel Appleton retired; son William Henry Appleton (1814–1899) formed a partnership with his brothers, John Adams Appleton (1817–1881), George Swett Appleton (1821–1878), Daniel Sidney Appleton (1824–1890) and Samuel Francis Appleton (1826–1883) * 1849 Death of Daniel Appleton * 1857 First New York trade publisher to engage in subscription publishing * 1869 ''Appleton's Journal'' started * 1872 ''Popular Science Monthly'' magazine and ''International Scientific Series'' started by editor Edward L. Youmans<ref>[https://www.publishinghistory.com/international-scientific-series-appleton.html International Scientific Series (D. Appleton & Co.) - Book Series List], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 7 July 2023.</ref> * 1875 Original publication of the memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman, one of the first such publications by a Civil War general * 1881 Relocated from Leonard Street and Broadway, to Bond Street, New York City; ''Journal'' becomes ''Appleton's Magazine'' * 1890 Co-founded American Book Company, a conglomerate including D. Appleton & Company * 1894 Published ''Songs of the Soil'' by Frank Lebby Stanton * 1900 Filed for bankruptcy and sold ''Popular Science''; re-organized by Joseph H. Sears of Harper's * 1905 ''Appleton's Magazine'' renamed ''Appleton's Booklovers Magazine'' <!-- 1917 or soon after, that 1890 conglomerate American Book Company "split up" --we say at A. S. Barnes & Co. --> * 1919 J. W. Hiltman named president * 1924 Purchased Stewart and Kidd, founded in 1914 * 1931 Published ''I Sailed with Chinese Pirates'' by Aleko E. Lilius * 1933 Merged with The Century Company, founded in 1881, to form the Appleton-Century Company * 1945 Sold hymn books department to Revell Publishing * 1948 Merged with F. S. Crofts Co., founded in 1924, to form Appleton-Century-Crofts.
== Publishing highlights ==
*{{cite book|title=The Flag-ship: Or, A Voyage Around the World in the United States Frigate Columbia...|volume=2 of The Flag Ship, Or: A Voyage Around the World, in the United States Frigate Columbia; Attended by Her Consort the Sloop of War John Adams, and Bearing the Broad Pennant of Commodore George C. Read, Fitch Waterman Taylor|first=Fitch Waterman|last=Taylor|year=1840|publisher=D. Appleton and Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ENoBAAAAYAAJ|access-date=April 24, 2014}} *''The Red Badge of Courage'' by Stephen Crane, 1895 *''Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings'' by Joel Chandler Harris, 1880 *''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' by Lewis Carroll, 1865, first U.S. edition *''Appletons' Cyclopædia of Biography'' in 1 volume, 1856, edited by Francis L. Hawks, added American biographies to the volume edited by Elihu Rich and published in 1854 by Richard Griffin & Company (London). *''Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography'' in 6 volumes, 1887, edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske *''Appleton's Railroad and Steamboat Guide'', 1847 *''New American Cyclopedia'' in 16 volumes, edited by George Ripley and Charles Anderson Dana, 1857–1863; revised and enlarged as ''American Cyclopedia'' (1873–1876) * ''Progress and Poverty'' 1880 * ''Annual Cyclopedia'' for the years 1861–1901, annual *''Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia'' 1893, in 8 volumes edited by Charles Kendall Adams. The rights were acquired from Alvin J. Johnson & Co. *''Universal Cyclopaedia'' 1900, in 12 volumes derived from ''Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia''. Edited by Charles Kendall Adams, and from 1902 by Rossiter Johnson, with title Universal Cyclopaedia and Atlas *''The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia'', 1889–1891, New Century Dictionary 1927–c. 1963 *''Picturesque America'' by William Cullen Bryant, 1872 *Unabridged English Dictionary 1859 *works of Jonathan Edwards, 1834 (1703–1758) *science works of Charles Darwin (1809–1882) *''Diseases of the Heart and Arterial System'', by Dr. Robert Hall Babcock (1903) *''Diseases of the Lungs'' by Dr. Robert Hall Babcock (1907) *Memoirs of William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891) *The Works of Rudyard Kipling [Authorized Editions] 15 Volumes (1899) *literary works of Henry James (1843–1916) *art works of Edith Wharton (1862–1937) *architectural works of Stanford White (d. 1906) *''Gems of British Art'', 1857 *work of Thomas Henry Huxley, 1880 *''From the Manger to the Throne 1880—1889'' by REV. T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D. *''American Negro Slavery'' by Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, 1918 *''The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government'' by Jefferson Davis *''A Journey in Other Worlds'' by John Jacob Astor
==Gallery== <gallery class="center"> Image:1856 Appletons Book Store 346 & 348 Broadway New York.png|Appletons' bookshop, 346 & 348 Broadway, New York, 1856 Image:1867 Appletons Railway and Steam Navigation Guide June.png|''Appletons' Railway and Steam Navigation Guide'', 1867 Image:1870s D Appleton & Co stereoscopic views and implements Broadway NYC LC detail2.jpg|Display of D. Appleton & Co. stereoscopic views and implements, 1870s Image:Robbins & Appleton Building.jpg|Robbins & Appleton Building, New York, built 1880 (photo 2010) </gallery>
== See also == {{Portal |Books}} * ''Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography'' * ''American Cyclopædia'' * ''Appleton's Magazine'' * Appletons' travel guides
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * [http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/lilly/mss/html/appleton.html Appleton-Century MSS] * NYPL. [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?499581 Portraits]{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} of William H. Appleton, Daniel Appleton, founder, John A. Appleton, George Appleton, Daniel Sidney Appleton. * Library of Congress. [https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2007684461/ Photo, 2007]. Second Floor Corridor. Printers' marks+Columns. Printer's mark of D. Appleton and Co. in North Corridor. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. * {{cite Appletons'|wstitle=Appleton, Daniel|year=1900|short=x|notaref=x}} This has information on the firm's evolution. * Open Library. [https://openlibrary.org/publishers/D._Appleton_and_Company D. Appleton and Company] * [https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4078643 Finding aid to D. Appleton and Co. Correspondence at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.] {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:D. Appleton and Company}} Category:1825 establishments in New York (state) Category:Publishing companies established in 1825 Category:Defunct book publishing companies of the United States Category:American companies established in 1825 Category:Appleton family