Overview

This volume presents for the first time an edited version of Harold D. Woodbury's Notes on the History of Woodbury & Company, Inc. This history offers a fascinating glimpse into the workings of a family firm that emerged as the largest commercial engraver in central New England in the 1890s. The company specialized in Bird's-Eye-Views of factories and industrial buildings, large numbers of which graced the walls of boardrooms and executive suites in the Northeast and throughout North America. A notable success for the company, in addition to its excellence in engraved letterheads, was its series of First Day Covers, pictorial impressions of commemorative stamps. The introduction to this volume focuses on printing and printing-related businesses in Worcester, Massachusetts: their founders, contributions to technological innovation, and contributions to New England's workforce.

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9780820481081

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Reviews

« Just about everyone of a certain age has admired at one time or another a Woodbury and Company engraving, be it the famous « Bird's-Eye-Views of various factories and buildings that once adorned the walls of countless offices throughout the United States before making their way onto business stationery as striking letterheads, or the 2,500 or so « First Day Covers of commemorative stamp issues produced for the Post Office that became a staple of the Worcester, Massachusetts, operation for several decades. This sprightly history - written half-a-century ago by a former president of the company and discovered among the family-owned firm's archives after it closed its doors for good in 2002 after 123 years in business - is a valuable addition to the history of printing and the graphic arts in America, and well worth the attention of students, professionals, and collectors alike. The editors have done a wonderful job of preserving the integrity of the original document while providing the reader with detailed notes, chronology, and evocative illustrations; a most worthwhile and engaging effort indeed.

'Notes on the History of Woodbury and Company' fills a void in Worcester's business and technological history. It is a hands-on treatment of a relatively small but innovative photo-engraving firm that prospered in an important industrial city dominated by larger firms. The Woodbury story is one well worth reading for both budding entrepreneurs and inventors as well as industrial history scholars. (Bruce Cohen, Chair, Department of History, Worcester State College) Just about everyone of a certain age has admired at one time or another a Woodbury and Company engraving, be it the famous Bird's-Eye-Views of various factories and buildings that once adorned the walls of countless offices throughout the United States before making their way onto business stationery as striking letterheads, or the 2,500 or so First Day Covers of commemorative stamp issues produced for the Post Office that became a staple of the Worcester, Massachusetts, operation for several decades. This sprightly history - written half-a-century ago by a former president of the company and discovered among the family-owned firm's archives after it closed its doors for good in 2002 after 123 years in business - is a valuable addition to the history of printing and the graphic arts in America, and well worth the attention of students, professionals, and collectors alike. The editors have done a wonderful job of preserving the integrity of the original document while providing the reader with detailed notes, chronology, and evocative illustrations; a most worthwhile and engaging effort indeed. (Nicholas A. Basbanes, author of 'A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books'; 'Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture'; 'A Splendor of Letters: The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World'; and 'Every Book Its Reader: The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World')

Author Information

The Editors: Kent P. Ljungquist, Professor of English at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, is the author of The Grand and the Fair: Poe's Landscape Aesthetics and Pictorial Techniques (1984) and the editor of several reference works: The Facts on File Bibliography of American Fiction to 1865 (1994); Nineteenth-Century American Fiction Writers (1998); Antebellum Authors in the South (2001); and Antebellum Authors in the North (2002). James P. Hanlan, Professor of History at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, is the author of The Working Population of Manchester New Hampshire, 1840 to 1886 (1981) and co-editor of Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor (2003). He has served as the Executive Secretary of the New England Historical Association. Rodney G. Obien, Curator of Special Collections & Archives at the Gordon Library at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, serves on the board of the New England Archivists.

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