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Browne's Bookstore, Chicago (1907 - S.141)The Dial 1900 New Bookstore 1907 Bookstore Ads 1907 A Unique Bookstore 1908
"THE DIAL, 1880-1900."
THE DIAL
Published on the 1st and 15th of each month by The Dial Company, Chicago
May 1, 1900, Pages 327-328
Excerpts: THE DIAL, 1880-1900. With the publication of the present number, The Dial celebrates its twentieth anniversary...
The Dial was founded May 1, 1880, by Mr. Francis F. Browne, in connection with the publishing house of Jansen, McClurg & Co., bearing the imprint of that firm. Under these auspices, it made a monthly appearance for a little more than twelve years. In the summer of 1892, Mr. Brown purchased the periodical from its previous owners, and The Dial Company was organized as a corporation under the Illinois statute. Mr. William Morton Payne and Mr. Edward Gilpin Johnson, both of whom had been frequent contributors to The Dial for many years, became formally associated with Mr. Browne in the editorship, while Mr. F. G. Browne, who had been in charge of the business interests of the paper since 1888, was appointed as the business manager. It was decided to make The Dial a semi-monthly publication, with a slight advance in the rate of subscription. The first number of the new semi-monthly issue was dated September 1, 1892, and fromthat date until present, The Dial has appeared regularly upon the first and the sixteenth day of each month...
The changes made in 1892 included, besides the increased frequency of publication, a considerable enlargement in the scope of The Dial, and an increased diversification of it content. Previously, it had confined itself somewhat rigidly to the reviewing of new works; it now added such features as the regular leading editorial, the occasional essay upon some literary or educational subject, the department of "Communications" which has proved so interesting, and the amplified miscellany. These new features added noticeably to its influence... The Dial has had four homes during the twenty years of its existence; its editorial and business offices and its composing-rooms are now conveniently and commodiously provided for in the Fine Arts Building, which shelters under a single roof so large a proportion of the literary, educational, and cultural interests of Chicago...
"New Bookstore and Publishing Firm in Chicago" July 27, 1907, The Publishers' Weekly
"NEW BOOKSTORE AND PUBLISHING FIRM IN CHICAGO."
THE PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY
Published Weekly by The American Literary Gazette and Publishers' Circular, New York
July 27, 1907, Page 222
Excerpts: NEW BOOKSTORE AND PUBLISHING FIRM IN CHICAGO. It has just been announced that The Dial Company of Chicago is to open in that city a large and well-equipped bookstore early in October, and will later inaugurate a general book publishing business. The company will, of course, carry on actively the three periodicals with which it has so long been identified, and which it has so long been identified, and which are so well known to the trade throughout the country: The Dial, the acknowledged leading literary journal in America; the "Trade Book List," a monthly bulletin of new books, supplied in imprint editions to booksellers throughout the United States; and "What's in the Magazines," devoted to the interests of periodicals as the first two are to books.
A special point is to be made of the decoration and fittings of this new shop. It is said that the beauty and distinction of the interior, as well as its comfort and convenience, are so unusual and striking that Browne's bookstore, as it will be called, is likely to be unique among bookshops on this side of the water. At the same time no essential feature of a modern general bookstore will be carried. Exceptional space for the offices, storerooms, etc., has been secured in the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue. This building, by the way, is a unique institution in Chicago, and does not quite have a parallel in new York or Boston. In a location of peculiar advantage on the city's water-front, overlooking LakeMichigan, this beautiful and populous structure now contains many of Chicago's Literary and artistic interests, as well as some of the best retail shops, leading clubs, etc., making it a place of peculiar fitness for the new bookstore.
The general direction of this enterprise will be in the hands of Francis F. Browne, president of The Dial Company and founder of The Dial, who will continue the editorial management of the journal begun by him in 1880; and Waldo R. and Herbert S. Browne, who have assisted their father in the affairs of The Dial Company - all practical and experienced man (sp) who have been intimately associated with the booktrade for man years. The direction of the bookstore will be the special interest of W. R. Brown, seconded by R. S. Anderson, who for the past thirteen years has been in the buying department of A, C, McClurg & co.; while H. S. Browne will be the treasure and financial man of the house. Another recent accession is H. B, Harvey, who has been in charge of McClurg & Co.'s advertising department for the six years.
This accession to the ranks of the book selling and publishing trades is most cordially welcomed. Few men in this country have done more for letters and the best interests of those connected with the disseminating of good reading than the founder of The Dial and those associated with him in the new enterprise.
Browne's Bookstore Ads - Nov. 16, Dec. 1 & 16, 1907, The Dial
Ad: "Chicago's New Bookstore"
Published in "THE DIAL"
Published by The Dial Company, Chicago
November 16, 1907, Page 327Ad: "Books for Presents at Browne's Bookstore"
Published in "THE DIAL"
Published by The Dial Company, Chicago
December 1 & 16, 1907, Pages 394, 438
Excerpts: Excerpts: CHICAGO'S NEW BOOKSTORE. BOOKS FOR PRESENTS AT BROWNE'S BOOKSTORE Browne's Bookstore, in the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Boulevard, is now open and will be found well worth an early visit. In the planning and fitting of this new shop, the effect sought has been a combination of the best features of a well-equipped bookstore with those of a choice home library. Through the cooperation of Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright as architect, the interior has been given a beauty and distinction, combined with special provision for the comfort and convenience of visitors, that make it unique among existing bookstores...
Browne's Bookstore, offers to Christmas buyers an opportunity to make their selections in a notably beautiful shop, where every possible improvement in arrangement and lighting administers to their comfort, and where the freedom from outside distractions will make their visit a most agreeable interval in the fatiguing round of Holiday shopping.
All the beautiful Holiday gift books are on hand, the best English and American editions of the standard authors, essays, biography, memoirs, travel, history...
"A Unique Bookstore" August 15, 1908, The Publishers' Weekly
"A UNIQUE BOOKSTORE"
THE PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY
Published Weekly by The American Literary Gazette and Publishers' Circular, New York
August 15, 1908, Pages 352-353
Excerpts: A UNIQUE BOOKSTORE. The choice of a location for a bookstore is always a matter of concern and perplexity. Given a favorable vicinity, where shall the store be located? If on the main thoroughfare... But, wherever a bookseller will establish himself, he insists that his store shall be on the "ground floor," in more senses of the word than one.
...Thus far, however, only one dealer in all classes of books has had the courage to locate his store up "in the air," and the credit of being the pioneer in this respect belongs to the Dial Company of Chicago, of which Francis Fisher Browne is president, which as already noted by us, has located Browne's Bookstore on the seventh floor of the Fine Arts Building on the Michigan Boulevard in Chicago.
...The Fine Arts Building in Chicago seems about the best kind of "foundation upon which to build a bookstore, occupied, as it is, by a clientage almost large enough, independently, to support such an institution. In it are housed artists, musicians, some of the leading picture dealers, the arts and crafts people, teachers of foreign languages, book binders, the Western offices of some of the leading Eastern magazines and publishing houses, the cartoonists, certain of the city's best-known clubs, and other interests more or less in touch with literary, art and cultural matters... a bookseller in such surroundings would have about as good a chance of succeeding as if located in a store on the street.
Having found his location, Mr. Browne, in planning and fitting his bookstore, sought to combine the best features of a well-equipped bookstore with those of a choice home library. Through the co-operation of Frank Lloyd Wright as architect, the interior has been given a beauty and distinction, combined with special provisions for the comfort and convenience of visitors, that make it unique among existing bookstores.
The store... looks out on the clear waters of Lake Michigan through an atmosphere but slightly smoked and undisturbedby the noise and clatter of the streets. Entering, the visitor loses himself in the low vaulted cloisters whose monastic-like cells are lined with the best books, arranged in the most tempting manner, and, as the Rev. Jenkins Lloyd Jones has said, presently "wonders whether he is not not in Florence and looks around d for the Fra Angelico frescoes or a Savonarola chair, for there is something in the architecture that suggests San Marco." The space is divided into two rooms. In the larger, there is an arrangement of alcoves along one side; each alcove has its chairs and table and reading light. The shelves extend only part way up the walls, giving the effect of a home library. By a unique system of shelf-lighting, the title of every volume from top shelf to bottom may easily be read, while at the same time the lights are wholly hidden from the eye. The smaller room contains no shelving, but is arranged with cases and tables for the display of fine bindings and special editions. A large fire-place and comfortable easy-chairs give this the appearance of an attractive living-room. Every fixture and every piece of furniture in both rooms has been specially designed and manufactured to order. The cases, tables, chairs, and wall trimmings are of quartered oak throughout.
The book shop has lowered its ceilings, economized its space, and set between every tier of shelves - for the shelves are disposed as in some libraries, at right angles to the wall - a long library table, with dependent reading lamps, high-backed chairs, and every convenience for passing a pleasant afternoon. One is invited to come in and be happy... The soft oiled wood, the originality of every article in the place, and the air of aloof leisure are vastly inviting.
The firm has prepared an attractive booklet describing its shop in detail with illustrations of its more prominent features, which will be sent free to all who may be interested. We advise every bookseller to avail himself of the opportunity of securing one.Back
