The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Putnam, George Palmer

PUTNAM, George Palmer, American publisher and author: b. Brunswick, Me., 7 Feb. 1814; d. New York, 20 Dec. 1872. He entered the book store of Jonathan Leavitt in New York in 1828, became a member of the firm Wiley and Putnam in 1840 and in 1841 went to London where he conducted a branch business. In 1848 he returned to New York, opened a publishing house, engaged in the production of finely illustrated books and established Putnam's Magazine 1853-56, which was resumed in 1868 and afterward merged with Scribner's Monthly. In 1866 he established the publishing firm now known as G. P. Putnam's Sons. He was an ardent advocate of international copyright reform, secretary for many years of the Publishers' Association, a founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and wrote 'A Plea for International Copyright' (1837); 'Chronology' (1833); 'The Tourists in Europe' (1838); 'American Facts' (1845); 'The World's Progress' (1850); Ten Years of the World's Progress' (1861), etc.