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Passing the Torch

James and John Harper founded their publishing firm, J. & J. Harper, in 1817. In 1833, the firm changed its name to Harper & Brothers and began to use variations on the publishers’ device shown above: two hands with a torch. 

According to the 1889 edition of The Book Buyer : A Summary of American and Foreign Literature, the meaning behind the Harper & Brothers device stems from Book I of Plato’s Republic, which has a reference to a torch race at a festival in honor of a Thracian Goddess that reads: “Carrying torches, they will pass them on to one another.”

Here we see two variations on the Harper & Brothers device from the front covers of two books. The top example is from 1846, the bottom example is from 1856. Although Harper & Brothers has since become HarperCollins Publishers LLC, resulting from a merger with Scottish publisher, William Collins, Sons, the torch has remained a part of their legacy. The current HarperCollins device combines the two firms’ logos: a torch above a fountain.

Browse the Library Company’s database of 19th-Century Cloth Bindings to see more!

1846, Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido for the suppression of piracy. Keppel, Henry.  New York : Harper & Brothers

1856, The wonders of science; or, Young Humphry Davy. Mayhew, Henry. New York : Harper & Brothers.

(via heaveninawildflower)