The market for printing and publishing books in Philadelphia was changing. The Pennsylvania state capital moved to Lancaster in 1799, and the United States capital moved to Washington in 1800. The presence of these two legislative bodies in Philadelphia had been a boon to Philadelphia’s printing and publishing industry. With the removal of two capitals within one year of each other, printers and publishers scrambled to find new sources of business.
Carey considered his alternatives for a new best-seller. Since 1796, Mason Weems, an Episcopalian parson and Carey’s sales representative had prodded him to print the Protestant King James Version. “If due attention be paid, you may doubtlessly, monopolize the Bible Business in America,” Weems wrote to Carey, planting the idea of dominating Bible sales in the United States. [1] Carey had published the Catholic Douay version in 1790, but that did not hold the promise of being a best-seller in a Protestant nation. To publish a Bible that was a best-seller, Carey needed to print the King James Version.
“Many years ago…I said ‘undertake the Family Bible—the Protestant Family Bible. ‘Tis the Alcoran [the Koran] of Our Faith. All will have it. The Virginian will give up his Tobacco & the Yankee his molasses for it.’ ‘Twas 2 years before you wd believe me…”[2]
Mason Weems to Mathew Carey
“On entering your service I importuned you for a Family Bible. I spoke of it to you…as a vein of Potosi [a body of silver ore in Bolivia] to your purse. Long I plead, but in vain, till one day, one lucky day, when the stimulus of an unlented dinner and a cheerful glass had raisd your spirits to noble darings, you snatched the ready [pen] and after a few minutes of rapid calculation you turnd to me with a, by G_d I’ll undertake it.”[3]
Mason Weems to Mathew Carey
In 1800, his spirits were raised to “noble darings.” There was the possibility that Jefferson would be elected president. Carey was seized with a desire to dominate the national market for Bibles. First, he needed the certainty that Jefferson would succeed, for he needed ample credit to buy the large amounts of type, paper, and ink to publish a Bible.
Ten years earlier, when Carey published the Douay Bible, printers in other areas of the country had undertaken the effort to manufacture American Bibles. Before the American Revolution, the British Crown held a patent on the King James Version. The government granted a handful of publishers the right to publish the Bible forcing Americans to buy Bibles of British manufacture. During the Revolution, publisher Robert Aitken printed an American edition, but nearly went bankrupt when cheap British Bibles flooded the American market after the war.
In 1789, after New York publisher Hugh Gaine advanced the notion of a consortium to print the Bible, several publishers assembled the capital and labor to manufacture Bibles under their own imprint.
In Philadelphia, two publishers issued Bibles in 1790. William Woodhouse offered a family Bible and William Young a duodecimo school Bible.[4]
In 1791, in Worcester, Massachusetts, Isaiah Thomas, then the largest publisher in the United States, set his sights on manufacturing two Bibles comparable in quality to British editions, a folio and a royal quarto. His folio featured 50 copperplate engravings. He devoted notable time and energy into creating a vertical industry, building a paper mill and organizing a bookbindery to produce the finest Bibles in the United States.[5] In 1793, he produced an octavo Bible, and announced that he would put to press a duodecimo school Bible. Thomas ordered an entire Bible set in standing type from London. After some delay, Thomas was able to print that edition in 1797, keeping the type standing, eliminating the cost of resetting for future editions.[6]
In Trenton, New Jersey, Quaker Isaac Collins published 5,000 copies of a quarto family Bible in 1791. He employed proofreaders directed by noted Presbyterian clergyman Dr. John Witherspoon. Collins even used his children to proofread, rewarding them when they found errors. Collins published the most accurate Bible in America. In 1793, like Isaiah Thomas, he issued an octavo.[7]
In 1792, New York publishers Robert Hodge and Samuel Campbell cleverly marketed their folio, offering it by subscription. They issued it in forty segments over a two-year period, allowing New Yorkers to buy a luxurious folio by installment. It featured explanatory notes by Rev. John Brown, and bore the title of The Self-Interpreting Bible. They also issued a quarto family Bible.
After failing to unite printers into a consortium, New York publisher Hugh Gaine sent to Scotland to purchase a duodecimo school Bible in standing type, and published it in 1792.
In the 1790s, American publishers offered eighteen editions of Bibles: Five folios, four quarto family Bibles, two octavos, and seven duodecimo school Bibles.[8]
Publishers differentiated their Bibles by size. Folios were sold to churches, quartos were sold as family Bibles, and duodecimos, the smallest, were marketed as school Bibles.
Publishers differentiated their Bibles by size. Folios, printed on a sheet of paper folded in half were the largest, and were sold to churches, Masonic lodges, and wealthy customers. Quarto Bibles, printed on a sheet of paper folded into quarters, were sold as family Bibles. Later Carey and other publishers added a page dedicated to the record of births and deaths. An octavo, printed on a sheet of paper folded in eighths, was sold for personal use. The smallest Bibles, called duodecimos, were manufactured by folding the paper in twelfths and sold to schools.
Publishers, who were also booksellers, exchanged the various sizes of Bibles, offering their customers a broader selection of sizes.
In the summer of 1800, Mathew Carey noticed the supply of family Bibles of American manufacture was running low. All four editions of the quarto Bible had been printed in 1791 and 1792.
If he wanted to dominate the sales of quarto family Bibles nation-wide, he needed to penetrate the largest market. Originally, it was Philadelphia, but Philadelphia was losing ground to New York as the nation’s largest city. In 1790, New York City had 33,131 inhabitants within its city limits compared with Philadelphia’s 28,522. In 1800, New York had 60,515 inhabitants compared with Philadelphia’s 41,220. The figures are misleading. Philadelphia was surrounded by multiple urban areas, while New York’s surrounding towns were not tabulated as urban areas. New York’s population of 60,515 in 1800, was surpassed by Philadelphia and its surrounding urban areas, with 61,559 inhabitants.[9] In 1796, Carey wrote and published a pocket atlas noting that New York had the most “eligible situation for commerce in the United States” and that it had the most favorable port for foreign markets.[10] With New York City in the most advantageous position for growth, both in population and in commerce, Carey needed to conquer the market for Bibles there, or he had no hope of monopolizing Bible sales nationally.
Carey sent Weems north on an expedition to collect subscriptions for a new quarto King James Version. After success in New Jersey, Weems wrote to Carey:
“…your bible proposition has knock’d up just such a dust here among Printers as wou[l]d a stone if thrown smack into the centre of a Hornet’s nest. The whole swarm is out. You hear of nothing here but printing the Bible. Collins is going to print a bible—Swords is going to print a bible—Hopkins is for a bible—and Durell for a Folio! Everthing that can raise a type is going to work upon the bible. You’d take New York to be the very town of Man-soul, and its printers the veriest saints on earth.”[11]
Mason Weems
Despite Weems’ humor, Carey was not amused; he was enraged. Weems claimed that he had collected 37 subscribers. In fact, he had collected just sixteen. Carey received ten or fifteen dollars of deposits from subscriptions, and suspected that Weems was withholding money.[12] Perhaps what was more important, Weems had tipped Carey’s hand, alerting other publishers to the shortage of family Bibles. A consortium of eleven New York publishers rushed to produce a new King James Version in quarto, and William Durrell published a lavishly illustrated folio.
During the autumn of 1800, Carey’s courage faltered. The result of the election remained uncertain. He had a prolonged quarrel with Weems, something that occurred several times over the course of their business relationship.
“I regret most seriously pledging myself to the public for the Bible and I am…deliberating with myself about relinquishing the undertaking…I shall…curse bitterly the day & hour of the day when I first saw you.”[13]
Mathew Carey to Mason Weems
“Your conduct is an exception to all the general rules I have ever read or heard respecting human affairs. When God almighty in his wrath & indignation sent you here lately, I had nearly extricated myself from all the ruinous consequences of my former confidence in you…On the subject of the Bibles, I have nearly made up my mind. It is now four to one I should not print it, notwithstanding all the expenses I have already gone to.”[14]
Mathew Carey to Mason Weems
Previously in March 1800, Hugh Gaine had offered to sell Carey his school Bible in standing type. Carey refused the offer, because he lacked sufficient funds and access to a line of credit. After Carey asked for some printed school Bibles, Gaine reiterated the offer on May 19, 1800. Again, Carey refused. Gaine’s school Bible offered an easy entry into the New York market, but Carey was unsure he would have the credit necessary to make the purchase, which he later recollected in his autobiography, was about $7,000.[15]
The spat with Weems intensified as Carey waited for the result of the election. By December, they had agreed to end their relationship. Weems, however, was working off a debt to Carey by selling books in Maryland and Virginia. While still in debt to Carey, Weems had the effrontery to demand a 33 1/3 percent commission on sales compared with the 20 to 25 percent he had charged in the past.[16]
“The dissolution of our business is at hand; for with all my I shall not say, sang froid, but friendship for you, I can stand such treatment and such letters no longer. [17]
Mason Weems to Mathew Carey
“…I am perfectly & sovereignly indifferent whether or not we have any further dealings. Our past intercourse has produced little else to me than disappointment and Embarrassment.”[18]
Mathew Carey to Mason Weems
Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr: The outcome of the election of 1800 remained uncertain after the Electoral College tabulated their votes. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1825) and Aaron Burr (1756-1836) were tied. The House of Representatives voted 35 times before electing Jefferson president of the United States.
In February 1801, officials tabulated votes from the Electoral College. Thomas Jefferson was tied with Aaron Burr. The result of the election rested with the House of Representatives, controlled by the Federalists. From February 11 through 17, representatives cast 35 ballots before electing Jefferson president of the United States.
One week later, on February 24, 1801, Carey wrote to Mason Weems, “I shall print the Bible and trust I shall find persons to vend it, less grasping than parson Weems. I shall do a handsome Edition, such as will secure a ready market everywhere.” [19]
“I shall print the Bible and trust I shall find persons to vend it, less grasping than parson Weems. I shall do a handsome Edition, such as will secure a ready market everywhere.”
Mathew Carey to Mason Weems
By September 1801, Carey was finally confident that his credit would be assured. He bought the school Bible from Gaine, and with it, entry into that market in New York City.[20] If Carey hoped to enter the market for school Bibles in New York State, he would have to grapple with the publishing powerhouse established by Isaiah Thomas in Massachusetts.
Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831) founded a publishing powerhouse in New England. Ebenezer Andrews was his partner.
Both Carey and Thomas were aware that upstate New York represented a profitable market for books and Bibles. In his atlas, Carey noted that all ranks of society in New England were literate, arising from the excellent school systems there, supported by public taxes. Carey described New England as “the nursery of men” noting that vast numbers of New Englanders were migrating to upstate New York as well as other parts of the union. He singled out Albany as the most likely city to grow in population.[21] With a large migration of literate New Englanders into upstate New York, the area was emerging as a largely untapped and potentially profitable market for books and Bibles.
No part of America affords a more eligible opening for emigrants than [Albany]. And when the contemplated locks and canals are completed, the bridge over the Mohawk river erected, and convenient roads opened into every part of the country, Albany will probably increase and flourish beyond almost any other city or town in the United States.”[22]
Mathew Carey
Carey needed to penetrate the market in New York State before Isaiah Thomas and his associate, Ebenezer Andrews, dominated bookselling in the region. To exploit the market, starting in 1796, they had formed three partnerships with booksellers in Albany and Troy.[23]
In the Mid-Atlantic States and the South, Carey had formed networks of booksellers and postmasters to distribute his books, but in New York, especially after Weems’ disastrous expedition in 1800, and with the school Bible competition from Thomas and Andrews, Carey decided to try a different approach.
CAREY THE NATIONALIST | Carey Organized American’s First Literary Fair in New York City
[1] Emily Ellsworth Ford Skeel, Mason Locke Weems His Works and Ways, v. II, Weems to Carey, 14 August 1800, 137-8.
[2] Skeel, Mason Locke Weems, v. II, Weems to Carey, 6 April 1809, 402.
[3] Skeel, Mason Locke Weems, v. II, Weems to Carey, 2 September 1805, 325.
[4] Margaret T. Hills, (Ed.) The English Bible in America: A Bibliography of Editions of the Bible and New Testament Published in America 1777-1957, (New York: American Bible Society, 1961) 5.
[5] Paul C. Gutjahr, An American Bible: A History of the Good Book in the United States, 1777-1880, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999) 47-8.
[6] Clifford K. Shipton, Isaiah Thomas: Printer, Patriot and Philanthropist 1748-1831, (Rochester: Printing House of Leo Hart, 1948) 52.
[7] Gutjahr, An American Bible, 90.
[8] Hills, The English Bible in America, 1-14.
[9] http://www.census.gov/documentation/twps0027: Tables 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, 1998. Researched in 2006.
[10] Mathew Carey, Carey’s American Pocket Atlas, (Philadelphia: Mathew Carey, 1796) 50-51.
[11] Mason Weems to Mathew Carey, 22 August 1800. Lea and Febiger Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania
[12] Sixteen subscribers tabulated from Carey’s 1801 edition of the Bible. See original copies of Mason Weems to Mathew Carey, 20, 25 August 1800 (Lea and Febiger Collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania) See Mathew Carey to Mason Weems 23 August and 20 October 1800, Lea and Febiger Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
[13] Mathew Carey to Mason Weems 29 September 1800, Lea and Febiger Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
[14] Mathew Carey to Mason Weems, 4 October 1800, Lea and Febiger Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania
[15] Carey, Autobiography, 48
[16] Mathew Carey to Mason Weems, 24 February 1801, Lea and Febiger Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
[17] Mason Weems to Mathew Carey, 14 December 1800, Lea and Febiger Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
[18] Mathew Carey to Mason Weems, 23 December 1800, Lea and Febiger Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
[19] Mathew Carey to Mason Weems, 24 February 1801, Lea and Febiger Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania
[20] Mathew Carey to Mason Weems 28 September 1801, Lea and Febiger Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania
[21] Carey, Pocket Atlas, 14-15, 50.
[22] Carey, Pocket Atlas, 14-15, 50.
[23] Shipton, Isaiah Thomas: Printer, Patriot and Philanthropist, 50.