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Hurst and Company

American, 1871 - 1919

BiographyHurst & Company, New York, 1871-1919

Firm opened in 1871 at 122 Nassau Street; that its plates were leased to Lovell in 1890 but returned in 1893 at which time Hurst sold the Argyle Press to Harris Wolf but continued to publish; located at 135 Grand Street in 1900 [but this seems incorrect as there is some evidence of presence at that location in 1895 and firm evidence by 1897; it may have relocated as part of the 1893 transactions]; in 1902 Reilly & Britton of Chicago took over distribution in the midwest and far west; in 1909 acquired A. C. Gunter Co. and in 1919 is located at 354 Fourth Avenue; 1897 Christmas Bookshelf ad places firm at 135 Grand Street.

Thomas D. Hurst, an electrotyper, began this firm in 1871 by reprinting books in his shop on Nassau Street, in New York. Like Worthington, his specialty was clothbound standards in twelvemo, and he was among the first to make this kind of low-priced popular book. From his Argyle Press, which turned out books bearing his imprint, came a flood of volumes and the famous pirated edition of Britannica which Henry Allen and his associates published in 1886. Another of Hurst's popular successes was his "Cameo Edition," containing, as he said, "all the Best Works of the Great Poets." Prospective purchasers were told in advertisements that they were getting books "tastefully printed and bound in the best English cloth," but in fact they got badly printed, indifferently bound books printed on the cheapest paper. Even among the reprinters, Hurst did not stand out as a bookmaker. Hurst was another Lovell acquisition in 1890. He leased his plates to the United States Book Co. on a royalty basis, and when it failed, they reverted to him, and he resumed publishing on his own. (Tebbel). Shove also has three pages on Hurst; see Research Tools.

From The Publisher's Weekly, 105: p432 (February 9, 1924): THOMAS D. HURST, founder of the firm of Hurst & Company, died at his home in Brooklyn, February 2nd, in his eighty-first year. He was born in England in 1843. In his early business life he was an electrotyper, having established the business which he eventually sold to F.A. Ringlet, one of his employees. In 1871, he started as a publisher and bookseller in Nassau Street, specializing in cheap editions of standard works of which he was one of the pioneers. This line he built up to important dimensions, and when the Lovells, John D. and Frank, formed the Unite States Book Company, he leased his plates as did almost every other publisher of competitive editions to the new corporation on a royalty basis. When this organization failed, Mr. Hurst's plates reverted to their owner, and once again he became an active publisher. He also founded the Argyle Press for the printing and binding of edition work, and this concern did the manufacturing of the famous pirated reprint of the "Encyclopedia Britannica" made by Henry G. Allen and associates. The Argyle Press was finally sold to H. Wolff In 1893. With him his two sons, George D. and Richard, were associated for many years.

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