Maturin Murray Ballou (April 14, 1820March 27, 1895) was a writer and publisher in 19th-century
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. He co-founded ''
Gleason's Pictorial'', was the first editor of the ''
Boston Daily Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachus ...
,'' and wrote numerous travel books and works of popular fiction.
Brief biography
1820s–1840s
Ballou was born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in 1820, to parents
Hosea Ballou
Hosea Ballou D.D. (April 30, 1771 – June 7, 1852) was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer.
Originally a Baptist, he converted to Universalism in 1789. He preached in a number of towns in Vermont, New Hampshire, and ...
and Ruth Washburn. He attended
The English High School
The English High School of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, is one of the first public high schools in America, founded in 1821. Originally called The English Classical School, it was renamed The English High School upon its first relocation ...
, and although he passed the entrance exam for
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
, he did not attend. He married Mary Anne Roberts on September 15, 1839; children included Murray Roberts Ballou (b. 1840).
Starting around 1838, Ballou wrote for the ''Olive Branch'', a weekly paper published in Boston. In addition to writing, he worked various jobs for the Boston Post Office, 1839 and the
Boston Custom House
The Custom House in Boston, Massachusetts, was established in the 17th century and stood near the waterfront in several successive locations through the years. In 1849 the U.S. federal government constructed a neoclassical building on State Stre ...
, ca.1845. From 1842 through 1844, Ballou and Isaac H. Wright published the weekly newspaper ''Bay State Democrat.'' Writing under the pseudonym Lieutenant Murray, Ballou authored popular novels which were published by
Frederick Gleason starting around 1845, such as ''The Gipsey, or, the Robbers of Naples: a Story of Love and Pride.'' He also wrote stories for ''
The Flag of Our Union''.
1850s
In 1851, Ballou and Frederick Gleason established the weekly paper ''
Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion.'' It was inspired by ''
The Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...
''. The first issue appeared on May 3, 1851, and declared: "The object of this paper is to present, in the most elegant and available form, a weekly literary melange of notable events of the day. Its columns are devoted to original tales, sketches, and poems, by the best American authors, and the cream of the domestic and foreign news; the whole well spiced with wit and humor." In November 1854, Ballou bought out Gleason and changed the paper's name to ''
Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion.''
Around 1857 Ballou's publishing enterprise in Boston operated from 22
Winter Street, in a building constructed in 1856.
...The building housed on its first two main floors the editorial and business offices of the publisher Maturin Murray Ballou. The basement held the 12 steam-powered presses that each week brought forth, among other publications, more than 100,000 copies of a 16-page, profusely illustrated journal, ''Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion.'' Engravers occupied the 3rd floor, working at desks by the windows. Atop the building's 4 storeys rose an attic crowned with a large light-admitting lantern. This lantern illuminated the room that Ballou had provided for the graphic artists who contributed to his ''Companion.''[David Tatham. Winslow Homer and the pictorial press. Syracuse University Press, 2003; p.11]
Illustrators who worked for Ballou included John Andrew, Charles A. Barry, W.L. Champney, John Chapin,
William Croome, Charles Damoreau,
George Devereux
Georges Devereux (born György Dobó; 13 September 1908 – 28 May 1985) was a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, often considered the founder of ethnopsychiatry. ,
Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...
,
Frank Leslie
Frank Leslie (March 29, 1821 – January 10, 1880) was an English-born American engraver, illustrator, and publisher of family periodicals.
Biography
English origins
Leslie was born on March 29, 1821, in Ipswich, England as Henry Carter, the ...
, John Manning, Emile Masson, Samuel Worcester Rowse, William Wade, Alfred Waud, William Waud.
By 1859, M.M. Ballou published several additional periodicals:
* ''
The Flag of Our Union.''
* ''The Weekly Novelette.'' Some were written by Ballou, under his "Lieutenant Murray" pseudonym: Novelette no. 90 – ''The scarlet flag; or, The Caribbean rover: a story of the early Buccaneers''; Novelette no. 137 – ''The pirate smugglers; or, The last cruise of the Viper''.
*''Ballou's Dollar Monthly'' ("the cheapest magazine in the world"), which continued until June 1893, under varying titles: ''Dollar Monthly'' (1863–1865) and ''Ballou's Monthly Magazine'' (1866–1893).
1860s–1890s
In 1867, Ballou built the St. James Hotel, on
Franklin Square in Boston. The hotel had 400 rooms, and was "the largest family hotel in the city, and one of the most expensively furnished."
He served as the first editor of the ''
Boston Daily Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachus ...
'', from 1872 to 1873.
Contemporary reviews were positive:
Boston has another daily newspaper, to add to the 8 or 10 already published here. ''The Boston Daily Globe'' comes into being full-armed, like Minerva from the head of Jove; a large 8-page paper, having more of the cast of countenance belonging to the ''Times'' or the ''Tribune'' than any of its Boston relatives. It claims to be neutral in politics. ... This is a new departure in journalism.
In the 1880s and 1890s he authored several travel books, covering Alaska, Russia, Cuba, India, South America, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Samoa, and elsewhere. In 1882 he "circumnavigated the globe."
In 1885–1886, he was a proprietor of the
Boston Athenaeum
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...
.
Ballou died on March 27, 1895, in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, where he had been with his wife since January 1895.
[Wrote books of travels; Death of Maturin M. Ballou in Cairo, Egypt. Was a Born Writer and His Pen Made for Him a Mark in Literature. One of the Original Founders and Once Editor of The Daily Globe. Boston Daily Globe, Mar 29, 1895. p.3.] He is buried in Boston.
Selected works
Non-fiction
* Biography of Rev. Hosea Ballou. Boston: A. Tompkins, 1852.
* Life story of Hosea Ballou: for the young. Boston: Tompkins, 1854.
* Treasury of thought. forming an encyclopædia of quotations from ancient and modern authors. Boston, J.R. Osgood and Co., 1872.
* Pearls of thought. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1881.
* Notable thoughts about women: a literary mosaic. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1882.
* Edge-tools of speech. Boston, Ticknor and Co., 1886.
* Genius in sunshine and shadow. Boston, Ticknor and Co., 1887.
Travel
* Will Cuba come into the Union? History of Cuba; or, notes of a traveller in the tropics.: Being a political, historical, and statistical account of the island, from its first discovery, to the present time. Boston, Mass.: Published by Phillips, Sampson & Co., 1854.
* History of Cuba, or, Notes of a traveller in the tropics being a political, historical, and statistical account of the island, from its first discovery to the present time. Boston: New York: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1854.
*
* Due West; or, Round the world in ten months. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1886.
**
*
* Foot-prints of travel, or, Journeyings in many lands. Boston: Ginn, 1888.
*
*
*
* The Story of Malta. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1893.
* . (About Ceylon)
*
Fiction
![Houghton AL 921](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Houghton_AL_921.3.15_-_Fanny_Campbell%2C_cover.jpg)
*
Fanny Campbell, the Female Pirate Captain
''Fanny Campbell, the Female Pirate Captain: A Tale of the Revolution'' is an 1844 American novel by Maturin Murray Ballou, about a woman who goes to sea to rescue her fiancé and becomes commander of a pirate ship. The popularity of its h ...
. Boston, F. Gleason, 1844.
* Ben Bobstay, the Boatswain's Mate, and Rosetta of Boston. Boston, John B. Hall, 1845.
* The Naval Officer, or, The pirate's cave. Boston, F. Gleason, 1845.
* The Protege of the Grand Duke: A Tale of Italy. Boston, F. Gleason, 1845.
* Red Rupert, the American Bucanier. Boston, Gleason's Publishing Hall, 1845.
* Albert Simmons; or, The Midshipmen's Revenge. Boston, F. Gleason, 1845.
* The Child of the Sea; or, The Smuggler of Colonial Times. And The Love Test. Boston, United States Publishing Company, 1846.
* The Gipsey; or, The robbers of Naples: a story of love and pride. Boston, F. Gleason, 1847.
* Roderick the Rover; or, The Spirit of the Wave. Boston, Gleason's Publishing Hall, 1847.
* The Spanish Musketeer. Boston, Gleason's Publishing Hall, 1847.
* The Adventurer; or, The Wreck on the Indian Ocean ... Boston, F. Gleason, 1848.
* Rosalette; or, The Flower Girl of Paris. Boston, F. Gleason, 1848.
* The Belle of Madrid; or, The Unknown Mask. Boston, F. Gleason, 1849.
* The Cabin Boy; or, Life on the Wing. Boston, F. Gleason, (1848).
* The Sea-witch Or, the African Quadroon: A Story of the Slave Coast.
* The Magician of Naples; or, Love and Necromancy. New York, Samuel French,
850?* The Turkish Slave; or, The Mahometan and His Harem. Boston, F. Gleason, 1850.
* The Circassian Slave; or, The Sultan's Favorite: A Story of Constantinople and the Caucasus. Boston : F. Gleason, 1851.
Drama
* Miralda; or, The Justice of Tacon. Boston: W.V. Spencer, 1858.
References
Further reading
* S.A. Allibone. Critical Dictionary of English Literature. 1859.
* A. Ballou. History and Genealogy of the Ballous in America. 1888.
* O.F. Adams. Dictionary of American Authors. 1897.
* American National Biography.
*
External links
*
*
*
* Ballou's Dollar Monthl
18561862
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballou, Maturin Murray
1820 births
1895 deaths
19th-century American newspaper editors
19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
Writers from Boston
19th century in Boston
American male journalists
19th-century American male writers
English High School of Boston alumni
The Boston Globe people
Editors of Massachusetts newspapers