Kegan Paul: A Victorian Imprint by Leslie Howsam (review)

humanities 427 Undoubtedly these lectures were highly entertaining to hear, and this short booklet is easy enough to read. Although Lee has little new to say on the subject of Wagner, he does offer some interesting insights. Regrettably, but understandably for a Catholic priest, his acceptance of original sin probably makes all of us `terrible,' but if `God speaks to us through works of art' who am I to argue? (ALAN DAVID ABERBACH) Leslie Howsam. Kegan Paul: A Victorian Imprint Kegan Paul International and University of Toronto Press. xxvi, 218. US $76.50 Although now a burgeoning field, the history of the book has perhaps been slow to take off because of the fairly rigid boundaries of conventional academic disciplines. As Leslie Howsam illustrates, publishing history doesn't fit neatly into recognized pigeonholes. So Kegan Paul is not just history, or literary history, or even biography, though there's a good deal of each in it. It's an interesting study of a particular set of publishers, but, perhaps of even greater importance, it's a case study in what to do with that mixture of books as physical objects, archival materials, history, biography, and contemporary reception. Scholars in the field need practical guidance on how to proceed. This book indicates some of the possibilities. Howsam frankly admits that to her as a historian the posing and answering of questions about the publishers, writers, and readers in this study are just as important as the questions about books. It's a risk to take, of course, and at times Kegan Paul does feel almost top-heavy with biography. But it's more than that, and as business history alone it is useful, more than a traditional publishing house history, and a contribution to the cultural history of readership and authorship. Chapter 1 is on Henry S. King, `businessman of letters.' There are some problems in content and layout with the illustrative tables B a family tree which doesn't quite work either as that or as a synopsis of business connections; a chronology of series, supposedly 1871B77, but apparently 1872B1911. Chapter 2 on Charles Kegan Paul is a fresh view of Oxford in the 1830s and 1840s, the Tractarian movement, Kingsley, and Positivism. The genealogical detail here is staggering. As biographical background it is intrinsically interesting and well presented, though precisely how it contributes to the story of the imprint, Kegan Paul, isn't totally clear, but this is a minor quibble. Chapter 3 on Kegan, Paul, Trench as publishers in the period 1877B88 is perhaps the most important in terms of solid, factual publishing history based on archival research. There is excellent discussion of payments to authors, royalties, shared profits, copyright, contracts, and books on commission. The range of the publishers' list was broad B fiction, poetry, art, science, theology, philosophy, education, medicine, biography, 428 letters in canada 1999 law, history, travel: `serious and beautiful books' B and, at least in literature, included the biggest names of the day: Tennyson, Meredith, Hardy, and Stevenson. There is discussion of each genre and a very useful table showing individual imprints in the 1870s and 1880s. Chapter 4 is on the later years of the imprint as Kegan Paul, Trench and Trubner from 1889-1911, a time of falling profits, financial crises, re-formation and new management. It was a sign of the times when the chairman of the new board was a German sponge merchant, contemplating the difference between a sponge in his warehouse and the book on the bookshelf. But there was incompatibility even among the book men in the company, conflicting personalities, divided loyalties, and diverse goals. Howsam cleverly expands her broader arguments with detailed illustrations. Her account of one company representative's trip around the colonies, for example, could easily be extracted and expanded to a fine case study in its own right. As the years went on the firm published fewer titles, and it was taken over by Routledge in 1911. The final chapter concerns the legacy of Kegan Paul, turning back to Charles Kegan Paul's autobiographical memoir, and with a glance too at the role of the publishers' wives and their influence on the companies...