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Knowledge for Generations
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Knowledge for Generations

Wiley and the Global Publishing Industry

Robert E. Wright, Timothy C. Jacobson and George David Smith
Wiley, 2007
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Editorial Rating

8

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  • Overview
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  • Engaging

Recommendation

Thomas Jefferson was president when John Wiley & Sons, the giant publishing house, was founded in 1807, so long ago that many people read its books by candlelight. Of course, other firms have published classics by James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Washington Irving and Edgar Allen Poe, but few others did so when these immortals were alive. In the early 1800s, Cooper, Irving and other literati met to discuss their latest works at the “Den,” Wiley’s Manhattan writers’ retreat. If you read, went to school, use technology, travel, or work in business, science or medicine, Wiley has touched your life. Perhaps you used CliffsNotes in college, Frommer’s guides on vacation, Weight Watchers books to lose weight and Betty Crocker cookbooks to gain it. Wiley is now the world’s leading publisher of scholarly, scientific and technical journals and books. You would expect a major publishing company to issue an outstanding book about its first 200 years – and, indeed, it has, a handsome, oversized corporate biography. getAbstract recommends this well-designed, lavishly illustrated and expertly written insider’s view.

Summary

America’s Most Venerable Publisher

John Wiley & Sons, America’s oldest publishing firm, began in 1807 when Charles Wiley opened a print shop in lower Manhattan. The U.S. was bustling, most citizens were literate and libraries were plentiful. Wiley and his partner, Cornelius S. Van Winkle, opened a bookstore and quickly established strong reputations with “aspiring New York literati,” such as Washington Irving. Wiley’s early titles included Irving’s The Sketch-Book, and – from Charles Wiley’s friend James Fenimore Cooper – The Spy and The Pioneers. The firm became well-known for its strong selection of literary and scientific books. Charles dissolved his partnership with Van Winkle in 1820. When Charles died of jaundice in 1826, his son John, then 17, took over the business.

John Wiley

John eventually married, and he and his wife Elizabeth had 11 children. George Palmer Putnam joined Wiley in 1836 as a junior partner, and it became known as Wiley & Putnam. The new railroads made distribution (and unsold returns) easier. New technology, in the form of stereotyping – metal printing plates – improved publishing. The firm became...

About the Authors

Timothy Curtis Jacobson is an author and editor who founded Chicago Times magazine. George David Smith is a professor of economics and international business at New York University, where Robert E. Wright is an associate professor of economics.

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