While books could be manufactured in the West even in the early years cheaper than they could be delivered in the West from the better organized establishments in the older cities of the East, it was not possible to deliver books in New York from Cincinnati so cheaply as the books could be made in the East.  The cost of transportation constituted a very considerable element in the price of schoolbooks.  Mr. Smith therefore made an arrangement with Clark, Austin & Smith, of New York, to become the Eastern publishers of the McGuffey Readers and other books, and a duplicate set of plates was sent to New York.  From these plates, editions of the readers were manufactured, largely at Claremont, N.H., bearing on the title page the imprint of Clark, Austin & Smith, New York.

The Smith of this firm was Cornelius Smith, a brother of Winthrop B. Smith.  Cornelius Smith withdrew from this firm before 1861.  In that year the war broke out, and this New York firm, which as booksellers and stationers had a large trade in the South, lost not only their custom in that section, but were unable to collect large amounts due them for goods.  Clark, Austin, Maynard & Co. failed and Mr. W.B.  Smith bought, in 1862, all their assets for the sum of $6,000, placed Mr. W.B.  Thalheimer in charge of the business and resumed control of the duplicate plates of the McGuffey Readers.

From the location of Cincinnati on the Ohio river, then affording the cheapest means of distributing goods to all parts of the South, Mr. Smith had obtained, before 1860, a very considerable part of the schoolbook trade in the Southern states of the Mississippi Valley.  The opening of the Civil War swept this trade away and left on the books of the firm in Cincinnati many accounts not then collectible.  The continuance of the war and the constant fluctuations in the price of materials, due to the use of paper money, joined to advancing age and ill health, all combined to lead Mr. Smith to withdraw from business.

[New Firm Formed]

A new firm, Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle, was organized April 20, 1863, with Edward Sargent, Obed J. Wilson and Anthony H. Hinkle as general partners, and with W.B.  Smith and D.B.  Sargent as special partners.

These active partners had long been in this business, Mr. Sargent as a partner and bookkeeper, Mr. Wilson as literary editor of skill and judgment and also a forceful manager of agents, Mr. Hinkle as a thoroughly skilled binder and manufacturer.

Winthrop B. Smith and D.B.  Sargent remained as special partners, furnishing capital but taking no part in the direction of the business.

[Southern Reprint]