The House of Macmillan (1843–1943)

Abstract

IT was on November 10, 1843, that two young Scottish booksellers, Daniel and Alexander Macmillan, published their first book, "The Philosophy of Training", by A. R. Craig, late classical master in Glasgow Normal Seminary. They were setting up a bookselling business in Cambridge (now that of Messrs. Bowes and Bowes), but they had other ambitions, "to realize some of their ideals" by publishing good books–and their London office at 57 Aldersgate Street was the first step towards their establishment as one of the greatest of publishing firms. Both had youthful experience with booksellers and publishers, and in the main had educated themselves; but they made the acquaintance of Archdeacon Hare, and through him of F. D. Maurice; in Cambridge, customers, young and old, became friends, with lasting respect and affection, and their rooms became a centre of serious discussion, social and theological. Alexander did much for the Working Men's College in Cambridge; Daniel defended Maurice in private and in public. Meanwhile, authors multiplied and books appeared, some of them still in service, such as the translation of Plato's "Republic" by Davies and Vaughan. Of the early authors, best known are Charles Kingsley, and Tom Hughes, whose "Tom Brown" had immediate success. Daniel had never been strong, but his wise counsel was a mainstay until his early death in 1857; and one of his projects, the London branch at 23 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, was realized soon after, with a similar club-like appendage, where 'Tobacco Parliaments' attracted an increasing number of guests–poets, historians, men of science, and story-tellers, among them Tennyson, Huxley, Dicey, Palgrave, and Herbert Spencer. The House of Macmillan (1843–1943) By Charles Morgan. Pp. xii + 248. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1943.) 8s. 6d. net.