George Palmer Putnam (February 7, 1814 – December 20, 1872) was an American publisher and author. He founded the firm G. P. Putnam's Sons and '' Putnam's Magazine''. He was an advocate of international copyright reform, secretary for many years of the Publishers' Association, and founding superintendent of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Early life

Putnam was born in

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

on February 7, 1814. On moving to New York City, Putnam was given his first job by Jonathan Leavitt, who subsequently published Putnam's first book. In 1838, Putnam and John Wiley established the publishing house of Wiley & Putnam in New York City. In 1841, Putnam went to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

where he set up a branch office, the first American to ever do so. In 1848 he returned to New York where he dissolved the partnership with John Wiley and established G. Putnam Broadway, publishing a variety of works including quality illustrated books.

Career

In 1852, with the assistance of

George William Curtis George William Curtis (February 24, 1824 – August 31, 1892) was an American writer and public speaker born in Providence, Rhode Island. An early Republican, he spoke in favor of African-American equality and civil rights both before and after ...

and other partners, he founded '' Putnam's Magazine''. It operated until 1856, resumed in 1868, and finally merged with ''

Scribner's Monthly ''Scribner's Monthly: An Illustrated Magazine for the People'' was an illustrated American literary periodical published from 1870 until 1881. Following a change in ownership in 1881 of the company that had produced it, the magazine was relaunch ...

''. His company was the official publisher to the 1853 New York World's Fair. Putnam published the books of many classic American authors including his close friend

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought ...

, and

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

. He served as secretary for the Publishers' Association for many years and was an advocate of the creation of

International Copyright Law While no creative work is automatically protected worldwide, there are international treaties which provide protection automatically for all creative works as soon as they are fixed in a medium. There are two primary international copyright agree ...

. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, he participated in the Loyal Publication Society of New York, and suspended his business for three years (1863–1866) to become the United States government's Collector of Internal Revenue in New York City. An important member of the New York artistic community, Putnam was the leading publisher of art books in his time and became one of the founders of the

and served as honorary superintendent in 1872. He was also chairman of the Committee on Art at the Vienna Universal Exposition. He is believed to have been the first publisher to offer "

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

" to authors like

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime. Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Elizabet ...

and

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, ...

Personal life

Putnam married Victorine Haven; their marriage produced seven sons and four daughters. Their daughter, Mary Corinna Putnam (1842–1906) was a pioneering female doctor, the first woman admitted to the Faculté de Médecine de Paris. One of their sons, Herbert Putnam (1861–1955), became a noted librarian who served as the United States

Librarian of Congress The Librarian of Congress is the head of the Library of Congress, appointed by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, for a term of ten years. In addition to overseeing the library, the Libra ...

. Their youngest daughter Ruth Putnam (1856–1931) became a noted author.

Death

On Putnam's death in New York on December 20, 1872, his sons George and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

inherited the business and the firm's name was changed to G. P. Putnam's Sons. George Putnam published his father's memoirs in 1912 and in 2000, his life's story was told again under the title ''George Palmer Putnam — Representative American Publisher'' by Ezra Greenspan, Associate Professor of English at the University of South Carolina. George Palmer Putnam's grandson and namesake,

George P. Putnam George Palmer Putnam (September 7, 1887 – January 4, 1950) was an American publisher, writer and explorer. Known for his marriage to (and being the widower of) Amelia Earhart, he had also achieved fame as one of the most successful promoters in ...

(1887–1950), was part of the family business but was also an author and explorer whose first wife was

Dorothy Binney Dorothy Binney Putnam Upton Blanding Palmer (July 20, 1888 – May 9, 1982) was an American explorer, socialite, and friend to Amelia Earhart. Early life Palmer, born Dorothy Binney on July 20, 1888, was the daughter of Edwin Binney, the manu ...

, the daughter of Edwin Binney who founded Crayola; after their divorce, he married the famous aviatrix

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...

.Herrmann, Ann
"On Amelia Earhart: The Aviatrix as American Dandy"
Ann Arnbor, MI:''The Michigan Quarterly Review'' Volume XXXIX, Issue 1, Winter 2000 His granddaughter

Brenda Putnam Brenda Putnam (June 3, 1890 – October 18, 1975) was an American sculptor, teacher and author. Biography She was the daughter of Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Munroe. Her older sister Shirley and sh ...

was a well-respected sculptor and author.

Works

* ''Chronology, or an Introduction and Index to Universal History, Biography, and Useful Knowledge'' (1833) * ''A Plea for International Copyright'' (1837) * ''The Tourists in Europe'' (1838) * ''American Book Circular with Notes and Statistics'' (1843) * ''American Facts, Notes and Statistics Relative to the Government of the United States'' (1845) * ''The World's Progress — a Dictionary of Dates'' (1850) * ''Ten Years of the World's Progress'', a supplement to his 1850 work (1861)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Putnam, George Palmer 1814 births 1872 deaths American book publishers (people) Writers from Brunswick, Maine Writers from New York City American male writers 19th-century American businesspeople