Van Nostrand (publisher)

David Van Nostrand (December 5, 1811 – June 14, 1886) was a New York City publisher.

Biography

David Van Nostrand was born in New York City on December 5, 1811. He was educated at Union Hall, Jamaica, New York, and in 1826 entered the publishing house of John P. Haven, who gave him an interest in the firm when he became of age. In 1834 he formed a partnership with William Dwight, but the financial crisis of 1837 led to its dissolution. Van Nostrand then accepted an appointment as clerk of accounts and disbursements under Captain John G. Barnard, at that time in charge of the defensive works of Louisiana and Texas, with headquarters at New Orleans. While so engaged he devoted attention to the study of scientific and military affairs, and on his return to New York City he began the importation of military books for officers of the U.S. Army, afterward receiving orders from private individuals and from academic institutions for foreign books of science. His place of business was at first at the corner of John Street and Broadway. He founded the firm D. Van Nostrand Company in 1848.

As his trade increased, he began the publication of standard works by American authors on military and scientific subjects. This extension, with the growing demands for books on scientific subjects, led him to move his firm to 23 Murray Street, where he continued until his death. In 1869 he began the publication of ''Van Nostrand's Engineering Magazine'', a monthly journal, which was devoted to selections from foreign sources, but also contained original papers on railroads, iron work, hydraulics, water reservoirs, sewage works, ventilation and mathematics (for examples). The magazine represented an early entry into the STEM fields area of publishing. Links to the volumes are given below, where a sample article is listed from each volume.

In 1884 J.C. Derby quoted Nicholas Trübner's characterization of Van Nostrand as "a gentleman of extensive and varied information, of genial and attractive character, eminent business capacity ..." He also noted that beyond military titles, Van Nostrand published books by Julius Weisbach on mechanics, James B. Francis on hydraulics, Quincy Gillmore on limes and cement, and both Squire Whipple and John A. Roebling on bridge building. The twelve volume digest of the American Civil War, ''The Rebellion Record'' by Frank Moore (journalist), Frank Moore was published by Van Nostrand. A biography of Napoleon, authored by Antoine-Henri Jomini, was translated by H. W. Halleck, an associate from New Orleans. He published Stephen Luce's textbook on seamanship for the U.S. Naval Academy.

James Clerk Maxwell's introduction to kinetic theory of gases, kinetic theory in his book ''Matter and Motion'' was first re-printed in the ''Engineering Magazine'' and subsequently by Van Nostrand in its own binding.

Van Nostrand was one of the founders of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York, St. Nicholas and Holland Society of New York, Holland societies, and was an early member of the Century Association, Century and Union League Club of New York, Union League clubs of New York City.

He died in New York City on June 14, 1886.

''Engineering Magazine''

The ''Magazine'' appeared monthly and carried articles from other publications as well as some written for Van Nostrand. Each issue contained current information: Reports of Engineering Societies, Engineering notes, Iron & Steel notes, Railway notes, Ordnance and Naval, Book notices, and Miscellaneous. Every six months an index was compiled of a completed volume. No table of contents was published for the volumes; rather the index was placed at the head of an assembled volume as seen in these links:
* January 186
Volume 1

* January 187
Volume 2
E. Sherman Gould, "Surveying Instruments", pp 5,6.
* July 187
Volume 3
"Railways of the Future"
* January 187
Volume 4
"Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute", p 4
* July 187
Volume 5
John Ericson "Solar Heat", p 8
* January 187
Volume 6
G.F. Grover "Notes on Fire-bricks" p 6
* July 187
Volume 7
"Theory of the Steam Engine" pp 17–26
* January 187
Volume 8
"Flow of Water in Open Canals"
* July 187
Volume 9
"On Compound Engines"
* January 187
Volume 10
Arthur Jacobs [Water] "Storage Reservoirs"
* July 187
Volume 11
G.H. Mann "Laying out of [Railway] Curves of Small Radius" p 13
* January 187
Volume 12
Abram S. Hewitt "The Future of Wages and of Iron"
* July 187
Volume 13
George L. Vose "The United States Coast Survey"
* January 187
Volume 14
N.B. Putnam "Arcs of Adjustment"
* July 187
Volume 15
S.W. Robinson "On a New Odontograph"
* January 187
Volume 16
Henry T. Eddy "New Constructions in Graphical Statics" pp 1–6
* July 187
Volume 17
H.T. Eddy continued pp 1–19
* January 187
Volume 18
A.A. Humphreys & Henry L. Abbot "Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi"
* July 187
Volume 19
H.T. Eddy "Theory of Internal Stress"
* January 187
Volume 20
Albert B. Leeds "Sanitary Science" pp 6–14
* July 187
Volume 21
H.T. Eddy "Thermodynamics" pp 1–9
* January 188
Volume 22
M.C. Stevens "Effective Ventilation" pp 13–16
* July 188
Volume 23
George W. Blodgett "Production and Transmission of Power by Electricity" pp 24–7
* January 188
Volume 24
M. Argand, A.S. Hardy translator "Geometrical Interpretation of Imaginary Quantities" pp 16–22
* July 188
Volume 25
Alex B.W. Kennedy "Kinematics of Machinery" pp 1–11
* January 188
Volume 26
William Thomson "Recent Improvements in the Compass, Corrections for Iron Ships" pp 1–11
* July 188
Volume 27
William Pole "Aerial Navigation" pp 1–15
* January 188
Volume 28
George B. Airy & Benjamin Baker "On the Proposed Forth Bridge" pp 40–5
* July 188
Volume 29
Charles C. Brown "Calibration of Thermometer" pp 1–7
* January 188
Volume 30
DeVolson Wood "Stresses in Beams" pp 1–3
* July 188
Volume 31
Wm Booth "Transformed Catenary as a Figure for Arches in Stone or Metal"
* January 188
Volume 32
F. Gilman "Solar Temperature Question"
* July 188
Volume 33
Wm Kent "Engineering as a Profession" pp 89–93
* January 188
Volume 34
W.C. Unwin "Water Motors" [Turbines]
* July 188
Volume 35
S.W. Robinson "Measurement of Gas Wells and other Gas Streams" pp 89–102
After the death of David Van Nostrand the assets of the ''Engineering Magazine'' were purchased by Matthias N. Forney who also acquired ''American Railroad Journal''. He merged these publications to form ''The Railroad and Engineering Journal''. That publication, after acquisitions and changes in name, is perpetuated in ''Railway Age'' magazine.

Notes

Further reading

David Van Nostrand obituary
(1886) ''Van Nostrand's Engineering Magazine'' 35:78, link from Internet Archive.
* Edward Mathews Crane (1948)
A Century of Book Publishing
from HathiTrust.
* Robert L. Gale
David Van Nostrand
from American National Biography.

David van Nostrand (1811-1886), Industrial/Commercial Leader
New Netherlands Institute.
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Nostrand, David
1811 births
1886 deaths
19th-century American businesspeople
19th-century publishers (people)
American book publishers (people)
American company founders
American magazine publishers (people)
Businesspeople from New Orleans
Businesspeople from New York City
People from Jamaica, Queens