By Karen Carlisle
On September 15, 2007, Sharlot Hall Museum will present Prescott Book Festival: Sixth Edition. Since it is a history museum, I wondered: What is the history of bookselling in Prescott? To get to Prescott, we have to start at the beginning of bookselling in the Americas.
Bookselling in the Americas began in Mexico, a European colonial market. In the early days of U.S. history, printers, who were also publishers, sold books. The center of commercial printing, publishing and bookselling was in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. All early schoolbooks in the eastern United States came from Britain, and were mainly written by clergymen. Therefore, they had a strong bent toward moral teachings.
Bookselling as a U.S. industry grew exponentially with the advent of libraries and the community cries for education as the Industrial Revolution expanded and a need for more educated workers arose. As publishing houses separated from printing firms, the large eastern publishers sold books from stores attached to the publishing houses.
How then did books get sold in the American West? At first, by mail order, of course. Hands down, more books were ordered through Sears Roebuck catalogs between 1830 and 1900 than any other method of distribution. Also, beginning in 1860, the eastern publishers sent out itinerant salesmen who plied their wares both to general stores and to rural inhabitants of the states they traveled
The first collection of books in Prescott were Territorial Secretary Richard McCormick's personal library of over 300 volumes which he brought in the wagons of the first governing party to serve as reference for administrators and legislators. Librarian Henry Fleury sent out the first overdue notice in 1865.
No doubt some settlers brought their family Bibles with them earlier and perhaps other cherished volumes. In 1870, the women of Prescott organized the first library association and opened a library reading room with 263 volumes from citizens' homes and 50 out-of-state newspapers. The reading room, housed at Bashford-Burmister store, was totally lost in the 1900 fire.
All of these books were purchased somewhere, and library books were most likely ordered directly from publishers. Other bookselling systems in the late 19th and early 20th centuries included selling books in department stores and drug stores. So probably Bashford Burmister Co, Gardner's General Store, J.C. Penney, F. W. Woolworth Co and Owl Drug and Candy Co. sold books. A 1914 issue of Yavapai Magazine, the Chamber of Commerce booster publication, shows an ad for Akers Bookstore. Like most stores, Akers Bookstore sold other wares also: stationery and office supplies, toys, fine candy and cut flowers.
The founding of Prescott is directly connected to the Civil War and President Lincoln's need to find funding to supply the Union Army and Arizona's Central Highlands gold did just that.
Another Civil War era connection was the rise of the Dime Novel, which morphed through the years into the popular fiction read today. These "books" were sold in drugstores and department stores in the last part of the 19th century. The dime novels evolved from the stories of frontiersmen battling Indians in the West and were published by James Fennimore Cooper in the magazine, 'The Pilot.' The Beadle brothers published the first dime novel in 1860: 'Malaeska,' written by Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. It tells the story of a beautiful Indian maiden who marries a white settler. All the early dime novels were westerns, but later came stories of pirates, spies and patriots. They were adventures and romances. These stories sold for a dime each, and were eagerly consumed by Confedrate and Union soldiers alike, as well as a growing number of working class readers, such as railroad workers, and miners.
If you are from a multi-generational Prescott family, ask your elders where they bought books. Dana Sharp says that "the old ladies down the road gave her books, and she doesn't know where they bought them." Today, Prescott boasts a great number of bookstores for such a small town. Independent bookstores from all over the state will ply their wares at Prescott Book Festival: Sixth Edition, and Southwest authors and publishers are waiting to talk to visitors about writing and publishing. Young Readers, Young Writers area has many children's books for sale, new and used, Friends of Prescott and Chino Valley Libraries, two school libraries and used bookstores will be on hand to recycle treasures at bargain prices. Who knows? You may even find an old Dime Novel at the rare books vendor's booth.
Please join us at the Prescott Book Festival: Sixth Edition, Saturday, September 15, 2007 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the heritage campus of Sharlot Hall Museum.
(Karen Carlisle is the Volunteer Coordinator at Sharlot Hall Museum.)
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(bus5045p)
Reuse only by permission.
The Prescott School House, seen here left of the Carpenter Shop, was converted into the community reading room after the completion of the Prescott Free Academy in 1877.