William Ticknor
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William Davis Ticknor I (August 6, 1810 – April 10, 1864) was an American publisher in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and a founder of the publishing house
Ticknor and Fields Ticknor and Fields was an American publishing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as a bookstore in 1832, the business would publish many 19th century American authors including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, ...
.


Life and work

William Davis Ticknor was born on August 6, 1810, on the outskirts of
Lebanon, New Hampshire Lebanon is a city in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,282 at the 2020 census, up from 13,151 at the 2010 census. Lebanon is in western New Hampshire, south of Hanover, near the Connecticut River. It is the home ...
, the oldest boy of nine brothers and sisters. His parents, William and Betsey (Ellis) Ticknor, were prosperous farmers. His cousin was the famous writer and historian
George Ticknor George Ticknor (August 1, 1791 – January 26, 1871) was an American academician and Hispanist, specializing in the subject areas of languages and literature. He is known for his scholarly work on the history and criticism of Spanish literature. ...
. As a boy, Ticknor worked on the family farm during the summers and attended the district school during the winters. In 1827 at age seventeen he left home and went to Boston. He was first employed in the brokerage house of his uncle Benjamin. When his uncle died a few years later he was offered a position at the Columbian Bank, a position he held for a year or two. In 1832 he went into partnership with John Allen forming the publishing house of Allen and Ticknor which operated out of the
Old Corner Bookstore The Old Corner Bookstore is a historic commercial building located at 283 Washington Street at the corner of School Street in the historic core of Boston, Massachusetts. It was built in 1718 as a residence and apothecary shop, and first became ...
. The following year Allen withdrew and Ticknor carried on the house under the name William D. Ticknor and Company, which would remain the legal name of the firm until his death. In 1837 he published the national monthly ''
American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge The ''American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge'' (1834–1837) was a monthly magazine based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established by a group of engravers to "give to the public a work descriptive, not merely of subjects, scen ...
''. On December 25, 1832, he married Emeline Staniford Holt. They had seven children together; only five survived into adulthood. Their three sons Howard Malcom, Benjamin Holt and Thomas Baldwin Ticknor all graduated from
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and entered into their father's firm. During the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, Benjamin Holt Ticknor enlisted in the Forty-Fifth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers and was commissioned as second lieutenant of Company G until May 1863. He was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. He was later commissioned as captain of Company E and was in command of the recruiting camp at Readville, Massachusetts. He resigned from service shortly after his father's death. In 1845 the imprint of the firm was changed to Ticknor, Reed and Fields, after John Reed and James T. Fields were admitted as partners. It continued under this imprint until 1854 when John Reed withdrew and the name was changed to the well-known Ticknor and Fields. With the widely varying but well matched talents of the two partners, Ticknor and Fields grew to become one of the leading publishing houses in the 19th century. Ticknor was the first American publisher to pay foreign authors for the rights to their works, beginning with a check to
Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
in 1842. From the Old Corner Book Store, Ticknor and Fields published the works of Horatio Alger,
Lydia Maria Child Lydia Maria Child ( Francis; February 11, 1802October 20, 1880) was an American abolitionist, women's rights activist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. Her journals, both fiction and ...
,
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
,
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
,
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
, Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
,
James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that ri ...
,
Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...
, Tennyson,
Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
,
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
, and
John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...
. The firm also published the ''
Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', ''Our Young Folks'', and the ''
North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived a ...
''. During his life Ticknor was very involved with the Baptist church. He was a director of the
Boston Lyceum The Boston Lyceum (est.1829) of Boston, Massachusetts was a civic association dedicated to popular education in the form of "lectures, discussions, ... declamation," and writing contests. It began "in Chauncy Hall on . On 13 August 1829 it formed it ...
, treasurer of the American Institute of Instruction, a trustee of the Perkins Institute, and a leading member of the School Committee. He was also a resident member of the
New England Historic Genealogical Society The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is the oldest and largest genealogical society in the United States, founded in 1845. NEHGS provides family history services through its staff, original scholarship, website,The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym ...
'', Ticknor became a close friend and advisor to Hawthorne.


Death

In the spring of 1864 Hawthorne's health was failing. Both Ticknor and
Sophia Hawthorne Sophia Amelia Hawthorne ( Peabody; September 21, 1809 – February 26, 1871) was an American painter and illustrator as well as the wife of author Nathaniel Hawthorne. She also published her journals and various articles. Life Early life ...
insisted on a restorative health trip. During their trip, Ticknor's health suddenly failed. He caught what he assumed was a cold before leaving Boston, and Hawthorne later wrote home that his friend had eaten bad oysters. By the time they reached New York, his illness was determined to be
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
. Wineapple, Brenda. ''Hawthorne: A Life''. New York: Random House, 2003: 371. Ticknor was more concerned about Hawthorne, writing to Sophia, "You will be glad to hear that your patient continues to improve." In
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, the duo visited
Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with ...
and Ticknor offered Hawthorne his jacket for warmth before they returned to the Continental Hotel. Hawthorne wrote to Fields that "our friend Ticknor is suffering under a billious attack... He had previously seemed uncomfortable, but not to an alarming degree." A physician offered various medicines, but Ticknor died on the morning of April 10, 1864.
George William Childs George William Childs (1829–1894) was an American publisher who co-owned the '' Public Ledger'' newspaper in Philadelphia with financier Anthony Joseph Drexel. Early life Childs was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 12, 1829, the illegitim ...
arrived shortly after and accompanied the distraught and grieving Hawthorne back to Boston.Wineapple, Brenda. ''Hawthorne: A Life''. New York: Random House, 2003: 372. The sudden loss of Ticknor was devastating to the already failing health of Hawthorne, who died about a month later on May 19. Ticknor was buried at
Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...
; the distinguished of both literary and business circles came to pay their final tribute.


References


Further reading

* * * *The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (1916). Boston: Published by the Society *Fiske, John. (1889). ''Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography'', New York: D. Appleton and Company


External links

*
American National Biography Online
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ticknor, William 1810 births 1864 deaths American book publishers (people) Businesspeople from Boston Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery 19th-century American businesspeople