The Story of the House of Cassell/Part 2, Chapter 3

CHAPTER III

 

DEPARTMENTAL MANAGERS

 

Galpin was not less well supported by his business managers than Petter by his editors. By Henry Jeffery, for example, head of the counting-house for five-andtwenty years. He had previously been with Petter and Galpin in Playhouse Yard. A good deal of managerial work came into the hands of this keen, hawk-eyed, forceful man, who concealed a really kind heart behind a demeanour ranging from severity to savagery. He was a tireless worker for the firm, a driver of hard bargains, a discerning judge of business chances. But occasionally he came to grief.

One notable instance of this is concerned with a book since famous. The idea of a "History of Our Own Times" was conceived at La Belle Sauvage, and the work was commissioned to Mr. Justin McCarthy, then a leader writer on the Daily News with a certain reputation in Fleet Street. While he was writing the book the future Nationalist leader became deeply involved in Irish politics, and, before he had finished it, was Member for Longford and a prominent figure in the Home Rule group in Disraeli's last Parliament. This development greatly alarmed Jeffery. He scented heresy which might be dangerous to the reputation of the House. Cassell's was identified in the public mind with the cause of Protestantism and English orthodoxy. Again, could a Home Rule M.P. who was agitating for the innovation of a Parliament in Dublin possibly be a dispassionate historian of the events of his time? Combining the two objections—the peril to the bloom on Cassell's Protestant fame and his own skepticism about Mr. McCarthy's qualifications as an impartial historian—Jeffery succeeded in communicating his panic to the partners, and they abandoned the scheme. Sir John Robinson, of the Daily News, was called in as arbitrator between author and publisher, and awarded McCarthy a considerable sum in compensation.

It was a bad mistake, as the subsequent history of McCarthy's immensely successful book demonstrated only too clearly. There is this to be said for Jeffery, that his time was much less tolerant of unfashionable views than ours. Charles Reade once agreed under contract to write a story for Cassell's Magazine. He sent in a tale entitled "A Terrible Temptation," at which some delicate noses in Scotland sniffed, with the result that for a considerable time the House lost an important account with a certain firm. Thus the censorship worked in those days. Though Jeffery made one or two mistakes of this sort, he did much valuable work, and ended his connexion with the firm as one of the partners. After the formation of the company in 1883 he became auditor. As head of the counting-house he was succeeded by his lieutenant, the late W. J. Woods, who carried through the conversion of the business into a limited liability company, and was afterwards appointed secretary.

Another notable figure in the earlier history of the House was John Hamer, a Yorkshireman, who at one time owned a bookselling business in Leeds, but joined the staff of Cassell's in the 'sixties. He was publishing manager from 1867 till 1900. An alert and vivacious man, abounding in ideas, he did a great deal to promote the success of the firm's enterprise. He particularly interested himself in Cassell's National Library, and he was responsible for the nomination of Sir (then Mr.) Malcolm Morris as general medical editor. He had heard Sir Malcolm address a medical meeting and immediately saw that the speaker had the sound judgment combined with fertility of ideas that a medical editor needed, and took the steps which resulted in the appointment. Mr. Meredith, who was for some years Mr. Hamer's assistant, gives us an attractive picture of him in the prime of life. "Short in stature and spare of frame, he had a fine head, a long, flowing beard, and a wealth of hair already turning grey. In his office, with John Cassell 's old-fashioned book-case in the background filled with the productions of the House, he presented a dignified figure. His manners were quick and emphatic."

Hamer was a tremendous worker. For years he imposed upon himself, in addition to his ordinary duties, the editing of the Live Stock Journal and Land, and did book-reviewing for them as well. He was a voracious reader and a good judge of books. Among his miscellaneous interests were those of a Justice of the Peace for the County of London, a "Savage," a "Whitefriar," and a prominent member of the committee of the National Liberal Club. He was honorary secretary of the Mansion House Council on the Dwellings of the Poor, worked for the Children's Holiday Fund, and served on the board of management of the London Fever Hospital. Only a constitutional optimist could have faced such a life cheerfully. In truth, Hamer was the most hopeful man in the world—about everything except the efforts of rival publishers. According to Mr. Max Pemberton, he prophesied the failure of every new venture that did not owe its origin to Cassell's, and, "had I believed him, my friends Lord Northcliffe, Sir George Newnes, and Sir Arthur Pearson would have all been found in the Bankruptcy Court in a very brief period from their first ventures." He retired from the Yard in 1901 and died in 1906. His successor was Mr. S. H. Lewer.

The head of the Printing Department for twenty-eight years was John Farlow Wilson, who was in the service of John Cassell for a time in the Strand, but went to Petter and Galpin in Playhouse Yard when Cassell migrated to La Belle Sauvage. On the amalgamation of the firms he found himself back in Cassell's employment again. Wilson was the most widely popular man in the House, commanding universal confidence, while his name was held in high respect throughout the printing trade in London. He was very business-like and very kind. In the words of Mr. Edwin Bale, he "kept everybody up to the scratch, from the editor-in-chief to the office boy." Punctuality was his deity. He was never known to miss publishing day, and whenever there was a narrow shave the defaulter received a large piece of his extremely vigorous mind. His judgment was quick and his criticism incisive, but none the less he had so impartial a sense of justice that the youngest boys in the place would fearlessly take their troubles and grievances to him, and always accept his decision. This rapid, active mind resided in a restless body. His walk was almost a trot; his rapid glance Hashed through spectacles from side to side, seeing everything and missing nothing. Before the days of telephones a messenger-boy was too slow for Wilson; he fled along corridors and up the staircases, doing his own messages, his movements heralded by a whispered warning of "Bogey!" from one youthful delinquent to another. The nickname became hallowed into a term of endearment in the course of years.

Farlow Wilson cultivated educational and philanthropic movements, was one of the founders of the Hospital Saturday Fund, and organized outings and social meetings for the workpeople. He was a ready and piquant speaker, so that no House gathering was complete without him, and on his retirement in December, 1890, he was given the place of honour as chairman at the annual dinner held that month. He had been since 1895 a director of the Company, and retained his seat on the Board till the end of 1908. In 1896 Farlow Wilson printed for private circulation his "Recollections of an Old Printer." It was characteristic of him that he would not have the book produced by the House because he wanted to present a copy to everybody at the Yard, and wished it to be quite fresh to the reader when he received it. He died in 1916 in his 87th year, leaving a most fragrant memory.

The Publicity Department also owes a great deal to a member of the Old Guard, J. H. Puttock. He was responsible for suggesting the designs and for the production of the noble posters of Cassell's publications which adorned the hoardings of the kingdom. He it was who carried out John Cassell's idea of adapting the French cartoon, "The Child: What Will He Become?" to the advertising of the "Popular Educator." Puttock was one of the boys who never grew up. He lifted or pushed everybody around him out of the dull rut of mechanical routine. Full of schoolboy tricks and fond of ragging, he delighted especially in playing jokes upon members of the staff who lost their tempers or were inclined unduly to stand upon their dignity. He was a famous peacemaker. His method of settling a quarrel was to lure the adversaries into his room together and amuse them with a comic caricature of their own dispute, so that there was nothing for it but to laugh and shake hands. He had a nickname for everybody in the place, however exalted his position. The quips and cranks of Cassell's court jester, as Bonavia Hunt said, "are tenderly and gratefully remembered by those who writhed under his labels."

Puttock's great achievement was the development of a new style of literary advertising. The Bookseller, announcing his death in October, 1896, remarked that before Puttock's time book-advertising might be read by those who sauntered, but not by those who ran. " It was the attention of the latter class that Puttock sought to arrest by a style of advertising hitherto disregarded or untried. The boldness of his views was cordially supported by the firm, and a system was developed by which Cassell's publications were the best advertised in the trade."

Puttock's mantle fell upon F. J. Cross, a buoyant personality and a very hard worker, who remained in charge of the Publicity Department until 1905, and was then on the literary side of the House until his retirement in 1908.