E. A. Weeks established his Chicago based book publishing firm - E. A. Weeks and Company- in the spring of 1893. He had previously been employed by the Donohue, Henneberry Company also of Chicago. Weeks' firm was initially located at 263 and 265 Wabash Avenue but by later in 1893 it had relocated to 276 and 278 Franklin Street. Weeks' initial foray into the publishing business included his purchase of the plates of the Melbourne Publishing Company, a subscription book firm. By 1894 the firm was located at 521-531 Wabash Avenue.

Most of the Weeks' output was in series form. Initially in 1893 there were four paperback series: Marguerite, Lucile, Melbourne and the Modern Author's Series.

In 1894 E. A. Lawson, formerly the manager of the Siegel-Cooper Department Store book and stationery department, bought a half interest in the company. The details are unclear but in 1896 Lawson resigned from Weeks and returned to Siegel-Cooper to manage the book department of its New York Store. In 1897 E. A. Lawson formed his own firm, E. A. Lawson Co. but still remained in the employ of Siegel-Cooper. In 1899 Lawson was listed as the president of Siegel-Cooper.

In 1895 hard cover books in series had been added to the Weeks' list. These included the Handy Volume Series and the Modern Library of Choice Fiction.

1896 was a year of progress in which numerous titles were added to Weeks' popular paperback series. More hard cover series were also started including the Best Works of Modern Authors' Series.

In 1897 E. A. Weeks and Company was sued. Creditors claimed that assets had been sold to George M. Hill to avoid paying bills. The suit stated that the company changed its name to the Weeks Publishing Company (Hill was president, Weeks was manager) to further avoid paying creditors. This latter company was incorporated at the end of January, 1897. Its principals were Alexander Schraig, William Miller, and Howard Craig. E. A. Weeks and Company officially went out of business at that time.

The Weeks Publishing Company continued publishing the Handy Volume Series, Marguerite Series, Melbourne Series and the Enterprise Series. In addition it began two new hardcover series: the Dartmouth Edition and the Amherst Edition.

In 1898 the Weeks Publishing Company sold off its entire inventory. Later in 1898 Weeks joined G. W. Noble, formerly of McClurg and Company and established E. A. Weeks Company. This company published a new paperback series, the Phoenix Series as well as the single hardcover book, Ionia by Craig Alexander. This early science fiction book may be the most valuable of all Weeks' publications.

By 1899 the E. A. Weeks Company (presently at 84 Wabash Avenue) was out of business.

Geo. M. Hill in 1899 published the Marguerite Series. Hill must have obtained Weeks' plates for this series. Hill also published a Handy Volume edition that had basically the same cover as an earlier Weeks' edition. Of note, is that the 1898 Hill mail order catalogue advertises the Marguerite Series with the E. A. Weeks and Company title page imprint. The catalogue also noted the earlier Handy Volume Series. One can surmise that eventually when these books were sold out that the Hill imprint went on the original Weeks' plates.

To further complicate some of these relationships the 1900 Hill cover for its Handy Volume Series is the same as an earlier (late 1890's) E. A. Lawson cover. I suspect that Hill bought the Lawson plates.

One important bibliographic note- it was not uncommon for Weeks to use earlier title pages for later books. In dating these books usually the book spine will be most accurate. A weeks Publishing Company imprint on the base of the spine indicates an 1897-1898 book regardless of the title page imprint.

***** Appreciate that this bibliography is a work in progress. We welcome your thoughts and comments.

The Books

Most of the Weeks' published books were in series form. Both paperback and hardcover series are listed below. Miscellaneous non series books are listed below the series books.

Paperback Series-

The dates in parentheses indicate when the first issues of the series were printed. A number of the paperback series' books were reprinted after the series had stopped adding new numbers.
Marguerite Series (1893-1898)
Melbourne Series (1893-1896)
American Authors Series (1893)
Lucile Series (1894-1895)
Enterprise Series (1894-1897)
La Belle Series (1897)
Phoenix Series (1898-1899)

Marguerite Series (1893-1897)

This is one of the first Weeks' Series. The earlier book, Romance of Two Worlds is dated April 1, 1893 and has the 263 Wabash Avenue Address on the title page but the Franklin Street address on the advertisements. The later book, Humors of the Fair, is dated September 15, 1893 and has the 276 Franklin Street address.

By 1897 there were 130 titles in this paperback series. For the whole list see here (Marguerite Booklist).

Publication dates are still being added to the database.

Melbourne Series (1893-1897)

This is another series started in 1893. The series was continually published until the Weeks went out of business. Each cover is different and book appropriate. Note that the date on the book is not necessarily the date of publication. Weeks never changed the original cover publication date. The Buffalo Bill book below was published by Weeks Publishing Company which was established in 1897. Thus this book which was first published in January, 1893 by E. A. Weeks and Company was actually printed at its earliest in 1897.

By the end this series list contained fifty books. (See here for booklist)

American Authors Series (1893)

This paperback series was published in 1893. Its list only had three books. It was only published in 1893. (Click here for booklist).

La Belle Series (1897)

This 1897 series only contained four books. It was published by the Weeks Publishing Company. (Click here for booklist)

Lucile Series (1893-1896)

This short series was issued quarterly at $2.00 annually. It consisted of eight books total with the books in the list changing between 1893-1894 and 1895-1896. Click here for Lucile Series details and list.

Phoenix Series (1898-1899)

This paperback series only had 14 books. None have been seen as of this time and not all of the books are known.

For more information, click here.

Enterprise Series (1894-1897)

This paperback series was published between 1894 and 1897. Not all of the book list for this series have been identified.

For more information, click here.

#31- May 31, 1895

Hardcover Series-

Handy Volume Series 1895-1898
Modern Library of Choice Fiction 1895
Best Works of Modern Authors 1895-1896
Dartmouth Edition 1897
Amherst Edition 1897
Works of the Best Authors in Sets 1895
Modern Authors' Series 1897
Werner Library 1896
Dickens' Complete Works 1897
Charles Dickens' Works 1897

Handy Volume Series (1895-1898)

This 75 multivolume publisher's series has been seen with a number of different cover formats. The books are 16 mo. These covers are from 1895-1896.

These Handy Volume books were published by the Weeks Publishing Company in 1897-1898. This format has been seen with both E.A. Weeks and Company as well as Weeks Publishing Company title page imprints.

These books are examples of 1899 George M. Hill Handy Volume published books using the earlier E. A. Weeks and Company title pages. Note the similarity between these covers and the earlier Weeks' covers. Later formats of Hill's Handy Volume Series had Geo. M. Hill title page imprints.

For more information, click here.

Amherst Edition-1897

This series was published by Weeks Publishing Company in 1897. The 101 variously colored cloth books are 12 mo.

Click here for booklist and details.

Dartmouth Edition-1897

This series was published in 1897 by the Weeks Publishing Company. Of note is the earlier title page shown in one of the examples below. E. A. Weeks and Company was at the Franklin Street address in 1893. Thus this title page must have come from one of the paperbacks published in that year.

Click here for booklist and details.

Best Works of Modern Authors (1895-1896)

The books of this series have been seen with a number of different cover formats. It appears that titles by the same author have the same cover design. The key in identifying this series' books is the circular gold gilt design at the base of the spine.

Click here for booklist and details.

Modern Authors' Series (1897)

This series was published in 1897. It consists of 25 two volume sets which originally came boxed. The 12 mo. cloth books have gold gilt top edges, Weeks Publishing Company is noted as the publisher at the base of the spine but not infrequently Weeks used an earlier E. A. Weeks and Co. title page. The books included in this series were also part of other hard cover Weeks' publisher's series.

Click here for booklist and details.

Modern Library of Choice Fiction (1895)

This 60 volume series was published in 1895. The books are cloth with gold gilt tops. 8 x 5.5. Click here for more information.

Works of the Best Authors in Sets (1895)

These 12 mo. books of fiction were published in sets ranging from two volume sets to seven volume sets. They are found in various colors of English silk cloth with gold gilt tops. They sold for $1.00 per volume.

Click here for the series details.

Werner Library (1896)

This 30 volume series was initially published and copyrighted by The Werner Company in 1895. E. A. Weeks and Company reprinted this series in 1896. All the titles have the same cover but different colors have been seen in the 7.5 x 5.25 books. The full booklist and details are available here.

In 1897 Weeks Publishing Company printed two different sets of Dicken's books.

a. Dickens' Complete Works- This 15 volume set of 12 mos. books have original first edition illustrations. It was sold complete for $10.00. (8 x 6)

Little Dorrit
Christmas Stories/Tale of Two Cities
Great Expectations/American Notes
Nicholas Nickleby
Barnaby Rudge
Dombey & Son
Bleak House
Martin Chuzzlewit
Oliver Twist/Uncommercial Traveler
Old Curiosity Shop/Reprinted Pieces
Sketches by Boz/Edwin Drood
Our Mutual Friend
Pickwick Papers
David Copperfield
Childs History of England/Christmas Books

b. Charles Dickens' Works- This set consists of nine two volume boxed sets. The books are 12 mos. with gilt tops and are bound in art linen. (7.75 x 5.25) The sets were $1.50 each.

1. David Copperfield
2. Martin Chuzzlewit
3. Nicholas Nickleby
4. Pickwick Papers
5. Our Mutual Friend
6. Dombey and Son
7. Barnaby Rudge
8. Little Dorritt
9. Bleak House

These small soft cover books were written by Prof. Geo. W. Conklin of Hampton University.
1. Weeks' Vest Pocket English Dictionary
2. Weeks' Vest Pocket English German and German English Dictionary
3. Weeks' Vest Pocket English French and French English Dictionary
4. Weeks' Vest Pocket Argument Settler-(Copyright 1896)
5. Weeks' Vest Pocket Writing-Desk Book

The softcover pamphlets are 2.5 x 6.

Non Series Books

Weeks published a number of books outside the usual series form. Obviously since the overall publication numbers for this firm were somewhat low, the number of non series publications is also somewhat small.

An Ambitious Man

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
E. A. Weeks 1897
12 mos. Deckle end papers. $1.00

My Sister Henrietta

Copyright by E. A. Weeks in 1895. (6.25 x 4).

Girl from Oshkosh

The Girl from Oshkosh by Ike was published in 1896 by E. A. Weeks and Company. Ike is a pseudonym for Kate Glynn.

Two formats have been seen. One is blindstamped. The other has a decorative front. 6" x 4.5". 159 pages.

This book is semi-autobiographical about Glynn's life in Oshkosh where she lived for 35 years. (For more about Glynn, see http://www.trigenic.com/html/katherine_glynn.html)

Kate Glynn

Honey from Strange Hives

Honey from Strange Hives by Rev. H. T. Miller (1894) 7.5 x 5.25

The copyright date of this book is 1894. Thus this book was published early in 1894 before Weeks moved from the Franklin Street address to the 521-531 Wabash Street address.

Three Stranded Yarn

A Three-Stranded Yarn by W. Clark Russell (1895)
12 mo. gilt top. $1.25

Architecture Simplified

This cloth bound book cost 50 cents upon its release in 1893.

It is subtitled How to Build 25 Houses.

The Doings of Raffles Haw

The Doings of Raffles Haw by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was advertised as published in the March, 1895 issue of The Bookseller's Friend. It was priced at 25 cents.

I have not seen a copy of this title.

One Fair Daughter

One Fair Daughter by Frank Frankfort Moore was published as a non-series book by E.A. Weeks and Company in 1895.

Ionia

Ionia by Alexander Craig.
This non-series book was published in 1898. It is 12 mo., priced at $1.25 and has a cover designed by J. C. Leyendecker.

Vest Pocket Webster's Dictionary (1894)

Limp cloth 25 cents
Full Leather, gilt 50 cents

Vest Pocket Webster's Pronouncing Dictionary (1895)

Edited by Prof. C. M. Stevans
This edition is full leather.

Blaine's Handy Manual

Blaine's Handy Manual by William Blaine
This little paperback was published in 1893 by E. A. Weeks and Company. It contains an atlas of the world and numerous statistics and miscellaneous information similar to a farmer's almanac. (5.25 x 3.75)

It was published in three styles:
1. Leather-Library Style for $1.00 (Published in 1894)
2. English Silk Cloth-Stiff Covers for 50 cents (Published in 1894)
3. Binder's Cloth-Flexible Covers- 25 cents. (Published in 1893-1894)

This book is Style 3-Binder's Cloth.

James Whitcomb Riley

Weeks published two Riley titles in 1895:
-A Tinkle of Bells and Other Poems
-The Days Gone By and Other Poems

Both books were only published in cloth and were 75 cents each. Although their covers are the same as one of the Handy Volume cover formats for 1895, neither book is part of the Handy Volume booklist. Each is 4.25 x 6.25.

Riley was obviously not pleased with the Weeks piracy. In 1896 he secured a judgment against Weeks (as well as another pirate, George W. Ogilvie) for publishing unauthorized copyrighted materials. The judgment of the court included an order to allow confiscation of the plates, books and sheets of the Riley works.

These unauthorized works are uncommon. This is probably explained by the fact that the books were first published in December, 1895 and by March, 1896 they were no longer being printed because of the court order.