Daniel Appleton operated a dry goods store in Massachusetts.  In 1813 he opened a Book Department with shipments of books from England.

Daniel started publishing in 1831 and soon joined force with his son, William Henry, who made several visits to Europe searching for material to publish.

By 1847 he had published some excellent travel guides, and his son William considered the book store a sideline and concentrated on publishing. After Daniel’s death in 1849, William's brothers,  John, George, and Samuel joined him.

Appleton's name was made world famous when they published the New American Cyclopaedia, and in 1856, six volumes of Appleton's Cyclopaedia of Biography.

By 1859 Appleton has published Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, the success of which led to Appleton publishing the works of Spencer, Huxley, and John Stuart Mill.  Under the guidance of William Henry Appleton's son, William Worthen Appleton, the firm grew in size and prestige to become one of the world's most important publishing houses.

In 1865, William Worthen travelled to England, purchased 1,900 unbound copies of the first edition of Alice in Wonderland which MacMillan had abandoned after Lewis Carroll and illustrator John Tenniel had objected to the print quality. (Carroll said the quality was "good enough" for "backwoods Americans", and allowed Appleton to purchase them.).  William Henry, however, thought his son had made a bad buy and ignored it for months. Finally, however, Appleton bound and released the book with a title page carrying the Appleton imprint. It sold very poorly at first, but gained steam after MacMillan opened an American office and promoted Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass.

In 1880, history repeated itself in reverse when Appleton published Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus, His Songs and Sayings. Harris was unhappy with the illustrations and sold the rights for the more famous Uncle Remus and His Friends to Century.  Appleton’s helped form the American Book Company in the same year.

In 1884 they acquired rights to Webster's Speller, advertised as "the cheapest, the best, and the most extensively used spelling-book ever published."  It became Appleton's biggest seller, second in publishing only to the Bible. The books were popularly known as "Blue Backs" from their bindings.

By 1900, Appleton’s bank promissory notes became due and the banks, stung by the failure of Harpers, refused to renew. Faced with an anticipated debt of a mere $230,000 (a small debt for a company with $5 million a year in sales !), Appleton filed for Bankruptcy.

The company was re-organised by Joseph H. Sears of Harpers, and continued to thrive until it merged with Century in 1930.  By 1948, D. Appleton-Century had merged with F.S. Crofts, Inc. and was eventually sold to Prentice-Hall in the 1960s.

Chatterbox
1876