BRATTLEBORO — In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, a young textbook salesman and his wife took ownership of a small publishing house in Brattleboro.
By the time it closed its doors 10 years later, the imprint run by John S. and Marion R. Hooper - the Stephen Daye Press - was not only a modestly profitable venture, it was also a book publisher whose influence can still be felt in our region.
“As to its place in the history of Brattleboro printing and publishing, it can be said it was an innovative and pioneering effort, which grew and prospered in hard times, and died in service to its country,” John Hooper Jr. said.
John, and his siblings Mary Ann and Steve Hooper, told the story of their parents' publishing adventure during a Sept. 8 talk sponsored by the Brattleboro Historical Society and the Friends of the Brooks Memorial Library.
The Hooper children used their father's own words to tell the story, taken from two pieces he wrote about the Stephen Daye Press. The first, “Education of a Publisher,” appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1938. The other was written in 1976 for UpCountry magazine.
How it began...
The Stephen Daye Press, named for the first printer in 17th century British-controlled North America, was an imprint of the Vermont Printing Company in Brattleboro, one of many printers that called this town home in the 19th and 20th centuries.
When John S. Hooper learned that the business was available, he and his wife jumped at the chance to run it.
“My total work experience had been four years of selling school books,” he wrote. “I knew nothing more about publishing other than what I had learned from the sales letters of the district manager of a textbook house. But this did not dampen my enthusiasm to see how it felt to swivel among manuscripts.
“We moved to Vermont, my wife and I. We occupied the editorial chairs; there were two of them, one on each side of a big desk. There was nobody else occupying ANY kind of chair.”
Vermont Printing took care of the business side of the operation, he wrote. The rest was up the the Hoopers.
“We were given a free hand to build a publishing business along such lines as we saw fit, but it was necessary to publish something quickly to pay the bills. ... The expansion or growth, if any, must come through an accumulative process of making dimes and nickels grow into dollars.
“I had written a manuscript on teaching poetry which I had been unable to sell to any publisher. But here was something to peddle; so against my better judgement, I published it myself.”
That book, “Poetry in the New Curriculum: A Manual for Elementary Teachers,” was the first book the Hoopers published under the Stephen Daye imprint. But they soon developed an idea that, apparently, no one else had thought of before.
“I felt I knew a good deal about New England, both its places and its people; I certainly had driven over enough of it selling schoolbooks. So why not sell books about New England?
“If the subject was interesting, it might not matter how little was known about the author. I could choose the subjects and then look for the right person to do the book. It was an untried formula, but it might work.
“The formula, fruit of necessity, was simple. Marion and I jotted down all of the New England subjects in which people would most likely be interested: the obvious ones, such as covered bridges, old houses, antiques, scenic places and country homes.
“Then we started inquiring among our friends and acquaintances for names of people who were even the slightest way fanatics or authorities on these subjects.”
A winning idea
By sticking to that approach, Stephen Daye Press ultimately published more than 120 hardcover books, and dozens of pamphlets, folios, soft cover books, and other materials on New England topics. Most of them sold well enough to prove that a regional publisher could be successful.
“As publishers, we continued to climb out of the depression, by way of lighthouses, covered bridges, flower books, ski books, biographies, and children's books, all with a New England connection.
“Some of these ideas panned out, some didn't. With a list of only 10 books a year, it was absolutely essential that each book should pay its way.
“With the dreary days of the Bank Holiday followed by brighter ones, we saw several of our titles catch on and swing by the 10,000 mark - books which at first had been merely ideas discussed while swimming in the West River, or while climbing Haystack Mountain, or riding home from the Rutland Fair with Marion.
“To me, there are few things sweeter than a good hunch, bound in cloth, and marked 'third edition.'”
Writing in 1938, John S. Hooper looked back with satisfaction at what he and Marion created.
“I often wonder what it is like in the big publishing houses, in the superstructures at the high end of the scale. Most likely the difference is merely in size and splendor, and in the view from the office.
“Here, the Connecticut River instead of Broadway sets the tempo below my office window. Here, my home is in the country, summer AND winter. And around me spreads the New England scene, much of it still to be cut to the trim size of a book.
“There is constant variety in the days of a publisher at work, a continual excitement. And, the disparity between the profits of regional book publishing and those of many other professions is compensated by the stimulation and satisfaction found within the business itself.”
The world rushed in
Ironically, as he wrote those words, the Hoopers were about three years away from shutting the Stephen Daye Press down.
As John Jr. told the Historical Society audience, three events led to the end of the publishing house. “First - and foremost I might add - was my birth in 1939,” he said.
At about the same time, an editing job opened up at The Brattleboro Daily Reformer, then published afternoons out of the American Building on Main Street.
“Dad's fondest dream from college on was to sit in an editor's chair,” John Jr. said.
The final event was World War II. In 1942, John S. Hooper enlisted in the Navy and served as a counterintelligence office in charge of catching German spies in New England, which at the time was a key region for producing war materiel.
Also, the copper, brass, and lead used in the printing process were all considered strategic materials and badly needed by the government once the U.S. entered the war.
“All these events conspired to prompt a decision - to put the enterprise on hold, contribute the metal to the war effort, and serve our country,” John Jr. said. “After the war, they were truly ready to move on, with Dad editing the Reformer, and Mom becoming a homemaker and raising a family of three.”
The legacy
The legacy left by the Stephen Daye Press was considerable, John Jr. said. Not only were they pioneers in regional publishing, they “were the first independent book publisher to trade in nostalgia, focusing authors on old-time values, emphasizing craftsmanship, and rediscovering earlier lifestyles and art forms.”
They also, arguably, invented what's now known as the “coffee table” book - oversized books heavy on photographs and light on text.
And that, John Jr. said, was his mother's idea. She decided to use a group of photographers, each assigned to document their home section of the Connecticut River, to tell the story of the river and the people, places, and activities along its route from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound.
“'Life Along the Connecticut River' was published in 1939. She conceived the project, wrote the text, and served as its editor. This book has been out of print for 75 years, but collectors will pay hundreds of dollars for a copy that has an undamaged dust cover.”
Was it the prototype of the genre?
“Perhaps,” said John Jr. “I'd like to believe so.”
His mother's book came at the start of the golden age of photojournalism as epitomized by Life magazine, first published in 1936. Life likely was an influence, he said.
“It may have contributed to her thinking. It is the one fact I haven't been able to confirm.”