The Bobbs-Merrill Company was a book

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

located in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

Company history

The company began in 1850 October 3 when Samuel Merrill bought an Indianapolis bookstore and entered the publishing business. After his death in 1855, his son, Samuel Merrill, Jr. continued the business. Soon after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

(1861-1865) the business became Merrill, Meigs, and Company, and in 1883 the name changed again to the Bowen-Merrill Company. In 1903 the name became the Bobbs-Merrill Company, after long-time director, William Conrad Bobbs. From 1899 through 1909, the company published 16 novels whose sales placed each of them among the nation's top ten best-selling books of the year for one or more years. The company was plaintiff in ''

Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus ''Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus'', 210 U.S. 339 (1908), was a United States Supreme Court decision concerning the scope of rights accorded owners of a copyright versus owners of a particular copy of a copyrighted work. This was a case of first imp ...

'', 210 U.S. 339 (1908), a case regarded as the origin of copyright's first-sale doctrine. Bobbs-Merrill was known for publishing such authors as Keith Ayling,

Erving Goffman Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born sociologist, social psychologist, and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century". In 2007 '' The Times Higher Ed ...

Richard Halliburton Richard Halliburton (January 9, 1900 – presumed dead after March 24, 1939) was an American travel writer and adventurer who swam the length of the Panama Canal and paid the lowest toll in its history—36 cents in 1928. He disappeared a ...

David Markson David Merrill Markson (December 20, 1927 – June 4, 2010)The_Egyptian_Book_of_the_Dead.html" ;"title="'The Egyptian Book of the Dead">'The Egyptian Book of the Dead'' (p. 147) * "A kind of verbal fugue" (p. 170) * "A classic traged ...

, Walter Dean Myers,

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...

, James Whitcomb Riley, Mary Roberts Rinehart and

Irma S. Rombauer Irma S. Rombauer (October 30, 1877 – October 14, 1962) was an American cookbook author, best known for '' The Joy of Cooking'' (1931), one of the world's most widely read cookbooks. Following Irma Rombauer's death, periodic revisions of the boo ...

. Robert E. Johnson, "The Hoosier House", ''

The Indianapolis Star ''The Indianapolis Star'' (also known as ''IndyStar'') is a morning daily newspaper that began publishing on June 6, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It has been the only major daily paper in the city since 1999, when the '' Indiana ...

'', 2 February 1947, p. 89. Of note, Irma S. Rombauer wrote '' The Joy of Cooking'', Mary Roberts Rinehart wrote ''

The Circular Staircase ''The Circular Staircase'' is a mystery novel by American writer Mary Roberts Rinehart. The story follows dowager Rachel Innes as she thwarts a series of strange crimes at a summer house she has rented with her niece and nephew. The novel was Rin ...

'' (1908) and Keith Ayling wrote ''The Story of Old Leatherneck of the Flying Tigers'' (1945). Bobbs-Merrill also published the early works of fantasy writer L. Frank Baum. Bobbs-Merrill was responsible for a long period in its history for publishing the codified state laws of the State of Indiana and of other U.S. states. The firm also published legal and school textbooks, children's books (including ''The Wizard of Oz'' and "27 titles in the Raggedy Ann series"), and texts in the history of philosophy. In 1944, Bobbs-Merrill commissioned artist

Evelyn Copelman Evelyn may refer to: Places * Evelyn, London * Evelyn Gardens, a garden square in London * Evelyn, Ontario, Canada * Evelyn, Michigan, United States * Evelyn, Texas, United States * Evelyn, Wirt County, West Virginia, United States * Eve ...

to illustrate a new edition of ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz afte ...

'', reprinted as ''The Wizard of Oz'' and ''The New Wizard of Oz''. Copelman's illustrations were more influenced by the 1939 Judy Garland MGM film version of the book than by W. W. Denslow's original 1900 illustrations, although the credits on the book stated otherwise. The year that Copelman's illustrations first appeared, 1949, was also the year of the film's first re-release. In 1959, The

Howard W. Sams Company Sams Publishing is dedicated to the publishing of technical training manuals and is an imprint of Pearson plc, the global publishing and education company. Sams Publishing was founded in 1946 by Howard W. Sams, originally producing radio schema ...

purchased Bobbs-Merrill. When Sams was acquired by

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

in 1985, the Bobbs-Merrill name ceased being used, with the exception of continued sales of the Fifth Revision of '' The Joy of Cooking''. This book continued to be a steady seller for Macmillan. There were also selected College Division titles, such as the Library of Liberal Arts.

Book series

* Bobbs-Merrill Reprint Series in the Social Sciences * Child Classics Readers * Childhood of Famous Americans Series * The Library of Liberal Arts * Live Dolls series * Raggedy Ann series

Company history

Book series

See also

References

Further reading