{{short description|American printer and publisher, briefly mayor of Cambridge (1823–1895)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Henry Oscar Houghton | image = 1846 HenryOscarHoughton.png | image_size = | caption = H.O. Houghton, 1846 | office = Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts | term_start = January 1872 | term_end = January 1873 | predecessor = Hamlin R. Harding | successor = Isaac Bradford | birth_date = {{Birth date|1823|4|30}} | birth_place = Sutton, Vermont, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1895|8|25|1823|4|30}} | death_place = North Andover, Massachusetts, U.S. |alma_mater = University of Vermont | occupation = Publisher | spouse = | children = | signature = Signature of Henry Oscar Houghton (1823–1895).png }} '''Henry Oscar Houghton''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|oʊ|t|ən}};<ref>{{cite web |title=Pronunciation Guide |url=http://www.hmco.com/company/about_hm/pronunciation/pronunciation.html |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |access-date=2008-12-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223153251/http://www.hmco.com/company/about_hm/pronunciation/pronunciation.html |archive-date=December 23, 2007}}</ref> April 30, 1823 – August 25, 1895) was an American publisher, co-founder of Houghton Mifflin and a mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
==Biography== Houghton was born into a poor family in Sutton, Vermont. At age thirteen, he started working as an apprentice at ''The Burlington Free Press'', where he became a typesetter. After graduation from the University of Vermont, he moved to Boston to work first as a reporter, then proofreader. He then joined a small Cambridge firm, Freeman & Bolles, that typeset and printed books for Little, Brown and Company. At age 25, he became a partner, and in 1849, the company was renamed Bolles and Houghton. After Bolles left in 1851, Houghton briefly entered a partnership with his cousin, Rufus Haywood, then with Edmund Hatch Bennett, before taking on full responsibility in 1855. In 1852, Houghton moved the business to a property beside the Charles River, renaming it the Riverside Press.{{sfn|Ballou|1970|pp=27-29}}
Before the Riverside Press, American books had generally been printed with poor ink on cheap paper. Houghton insisted on much higher quality; his motto was "Do it well or not at all". The result was very successful. He became the main printer for publishers Ticknor and Fields, and, in 1863, was engaged by G. & C. Merriam Company to print and bind their new dictionary.
In 1864, Houghton entered the publishing business and formed a partnership with a New York publisher, Melancthon M. Hurd, who obtained half interest in the Riverside Press.{{sfn|Ballou|1970|pp=55-57}} Within three years, the company increased its workforce from 90 to 300 employees. Hurd & Houghton struggled initially as a publisher, contending especially with lackluster periodical sales, and would not turn a profit until 1870. {{anchor|James G. Gregory (publisher)}}{{anchor|W. A. Townsend}}{{anchor|Stringer & Townsend}}''Hurd & Houghton'' was the successor of ''James G. Gregory'', ''W. A. Townsend & Co.'' and ''Stringer & Townsend''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sabin |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Sabin |year=1868 |title=Bibliotheca Americana: A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, from Its Discovery to the Present Time |url={{GBUrl|QCUqAAAAYAAJ|pg=PA509}} |page=509 |publisher=Bibliographical Society of America |volume=4}}</ref>
The Riverside Press continued to operate successfully, however, and Houghton purchased the property it occupied in 1867.{{sfn|Ballou|1970|pp=96-98}} George Harrison Mifflin (1845–1921) became a partner in 1872,<ref>{{cite news |date=April 9, 1921 |title=George H. Mifflin |url=https://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/cgi-bin/cambridge?a=d&d=Chronicle18950914-01.2.39 |newspaper=The Cambridge Tribune |volume=XLIV |issue=6 |publisher=Cambridge Public Library |access-date=September 20, 2016}}</ref> the same year that Houghton served as mayor of Cambridge.{{sfn|Scudder|1897|p=131}} In 1878, when Hurd retired, Houghton joined with James R. Osgood of Ticknor and Fields, merging their firms to create Houghton, Osgood and Company. The firm was plagued by debts brought in by Osgood, and dissolved in 1880 when Osgood left the partnership. Houghton and Mifflin then formed Houghton, Mifflin and Co.; Lawson Valentine, who became a partner and provided $200,000 in fresh capital, helped to mitigate their debts.{{sfn|Ballou|1970|pp=247, 276-278}} Houghton's firm also retained the right to the Tickner and Fields backlist, from which it could freely benefit.<ref>{{cite book |last=Winship |first=Michael |year=1995 |title=American Literary Publishing in the Mid-Nineteenth Century: The Business of Ticknor and Fields |url={{GBUrl|8-7gAAAAMAAJ}} |page=23 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-45469-8}}</ref>
Houghton died at his summer home in North Andover, Massachusetts on August 25, 1895.<ref>{{cite news |date=August 26, 1895 |title=Death in Life: H. O. Houghton Sr Sinks to His Long Rest |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75683352/death-in-life-h-o-houghton-sr-sinks/ |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75683509/death-in-life-h-o-houghton-sr-sinks/ 7] |location=North Andover |newspaper=The Boston Globe |access-date=April 13, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He had one son and three daughters. In his 1891 will, he appointed daughter Elizabeth Harris Houghton "representative to nominate a patient for the free bed the testator established in the Cambridge hospital".<ref>{{cite news |date=September 14, 1895 |title=The Will of Henry O. Houghton |url=https://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/cgi-bin/cambridge?a=d&d=Chronicle18950914-01.2.39 |newspaper=Cambridge Chronicle |volume=L |issue=37 |publisher=Cambridge Public Library |access-date=February 3, 2016}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book |last=Ballou |first=Ellen B. |date=1970 |title=The Building of the House |url=https://archive.org/details/buildingofhouseh00ball |url-access=registration |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton Mifflin and Co.}} * {{cite book | last=Scudder | first=Horace Elisha | year=1897 | title=Henry Oscar Houghton: A Biographical Outline |url=https://archive.org/stream/henryoscarhought00scuduoft | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | publisher=Riverside Press | oclc=609629235}}
==External links== {{commons category|Henry Oscar Houghton}} * {{LCAuth|n85286228|Henry Oscar Houghton|1|}} * {{LCAuth|n2001060933|George H. Mifflin|1|}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title=Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts | before=Hamlin R. Harding | years= January 1872 – January 1873 |after=Isaac Bradford }} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houghton, Henry Oscar}} Category:1823 births Category:1895 deaths Category:People from Caledonia County, Vermont Category:University of Vermont alumni Category:Mayors of Cambridge, Massachusetts Category:19th-century mayors of places in Massachusetts Category:General Society of Colonial Wars Category:19th-century American publishers (people)