Hezekiah Howe Papers

The Hezekiah Howe Papers consist of fifteen bound volumes of manuscript records documenting three bookselling firms in New Haven, Connecticut, in which Howe was partner or owner: Beers & Howe, Howe & DeForest, and Hezekiah Howe & Co. The volumes include four bookshop inventories (1812, 1815, 1832, 1835) and four letter books (1811-1818 and 1833-1838), with financial records consisting of two ledgers (1829-1837), two journals (1831-1838), a day book (1832-1841), and two waste books (1832-1841).

Four volumes contain manuscript shop inventories made to record the transfer of ownership between business partners. The first volume is dated April 1, 1812, and reflects stock on hand when Beers & Howe became Howe & DeForest; the second volume is dated March 1, 1815, listing the stock on hand at Howe & DeForest on the day it was acquired by Hezekiah Howe. Each volume contains a manuscript receipt showing the price paid to the departing partner. The inventories classify books under headings of divinity, law, medical, history, Bibles & prayer books, arts & sciences, and "Miscellanies" (primarily literature), followed by second-hand books, stationery, blank books, alphabet and penmanship books, atlases, maps, and charts. Also listed are the optical, mathematical, and musical instruments, "pocket books" for men and women, and "Miscellaneous Articles" sold by the firm such as trunks, ivory tablets, snuff boxes, dice, buttons, and other sundries. The 1812 inventory is divided into sections distinguishing "Imported" from "American" titles. The third inventory is dated June 1, 1832, and lists the books and stationery that Hezekiah Howe & Co. partner Augustus Russell Street sold to Alfred Terry, and the printing office equipment that Street sold to Hezekiah Howe & Co. The fourth inventory is dated April 1, 1835, and list the books, stationery, and prints that Alfred Terry sold to Herrick and Noyes, the successor to Hezekiah Howe & Co.; the latter volume contains a non-compete clause signed by Terry and Howe.

The four letter books contain manuscript copies of 4,725 outgoing letters from booksellers Beers & Howe (1811-1812), Howe & DeForest (1812-1815), and Hezekiah Howe (1815-1818 and 1833-1838); all volumes have alphabetical name indexes in front. The recipients were retail customers, editors, printers, publishers, and booksellers primarily situated between Boston and Washington, D.C., in particular Philadelphia. Frequent correspondents were Mathew Carey, Evert Duyckinck, Jeremiah Evarts, William Hilliard, Lambert Lockwood, Francis Nichols, John Wiley, and A. T. Goodrich, who operated as an agent for Howe in New York City. Firms include Birch and Small; Bradford & Read; Clark & Lyman; Collins & Co.; Desilver, Thomas & Co.; Eastburn, Kirk & Co.; Farrand and Nicholas; Grigg & Elliot; Hale & Hosmer; Hudson & Goodwin; J.S. & C. Adams; Kimber & Conrad; Kirk & Mercein; Leavitt, Lord, and Co.; Michael Burnham & Co.; T. & J. Swords; Thomas B. Wait and Co.; and Whiting and Watson, among many others. The letters discuss all matters involved in bookselling and publishing, including prices and arrangements for acquiring, selling, and shipping books and journals.