Hey Everybody, Sam here.

Last post, we made some acquaintances with my gorgeous book, Celtic Myth & Legend, Poetry & Romance. We talked through some of my first impressions and laid out my plans for further research.

Today we’re talking about ORIGINS! We can start with some of the people who made it:

Author & Publisher, Poetry & Romance

The author of our book, Charles Squire, seems to have been a huge fan of Irish myth. I looked him up on WorldCat, and between 1900 and 1930, his two main books were 1: Our Pet Book, and 2: The Mythology of Ancient Britain and Ireland. He wrote a book called The boy hero of Erin. The story of Cuchulainn and the champions of the Red Branch of Ulster and also co-authored a book called To central Africa on an iceberg: being the travels and adventures of a white bear.

I have no idea where Squire wrote our pet book, but it was published in London, mainly. It was also, although more rarely, published in Glasgow, Scotland, by the same folks who published it in London. While it stayed in Scotland, The Gresham Publishing Company was known as Blackie and Son. I took me quite some time to find any information on the company since another publishing company seems to have absorbed them. On the website for the company Geddes and Grosset (link below), I learned that Black and Son was founded in 1898, even though they had been selling subscriptions in the late 1870’s. Apparently the Gresham Publishing Company was supposed to “take over the subscription trade” and to introduce some new publications in a more technical vein, scientific and technical books, to be specific.

Science & Technology ≠ Poetry and Romance

So now I’m curious. Geddes and Grosset seem to emphasize the publication of scientific and technical books, but we already know that our pet book is part of an an entire series on mythology and literature from around the world. Those seem like an odd mix if that’s all they published. Did these people just decide to print everything?

I look again on WorldCat, and at least around the year 1910, most of the books really were about mythology or technology! Most of the books on mythology, including our pet book, were part of the series “Myth and Legend in Literature and Art.” The science and technology books didn’t seem to be part of any series.

So now we can begin to understand why the Gresham Publishing Company would want their book to look the way it does. Our book is no paperback, disposable, cheap copy for common readers. We can’t know for sure, but maybe the company was fighting to be taken seriously. They were new in London, when our pet book was published. Science, technology and literature seem like the meat and potatoes for book collectors, the kinds of books that most people don’t need.

Now that we’re thinking about our publisher, let’s talk about—

How they actually printed the book:

I can’t find anything conclusive about who printed the books for Gresham publishing company, but I want to emphasize that the publishing company did not necessarily print our pet book. It’s possible that the Gresham Publishing Company worked with various printing companies. Because I can’t find specifically who printed the book, I have no way to verify what methods and technologies were used to print the book. Due to strange circumstances, I can no longer look at the book in person, but must rely on a digital surrogate, which is far from ideal (more on digital surrogates another time).

What about the artists?

Don’t forget! Our pet book has art inside, some in color, some not, by a variety of artists. This isn’t the place to do a deep dive on the artists, but I think it’s important to remember that someone had to make those works of art, and someone else had to transfer those works of art onto the pages of a book. We shouldn’t even take it for granted that the author chose those particular works of art. The publisher’s may have selected the pieces that they felt most fit their book. We can’t attach names to all those people, but it’s still important to remember that they had a role in creating this pet book.

That’s all for now. Next, we tackle paratext and the role it has in helping us navigate the written word. Very fun. Don’t miss it.

Wash your hands for twenty seconds,

Sam