In 1880, Peter G. Thomson & Co. Publishing released a new book written by William J. Shaw and illustrated by Henry Farny called “Solomon’s Story”. This is just another example of Farny and his Cincinnati connections, this time with both with a writer and with a publisher.
W. J. Shaw was forty years old when Solomon’s story was published. He began life in Canada, before attending law school, then dropping into the US, where he practiced law for a while. Whether restless by nature or unhappy with the jobs he undertook, over the years he worked as an elocutionist, a principal of Kentucky’s Harrodsburg High School school, and one other school, reported for the Cincinnati Gazette, launched his own newspaper, the “Cincinnati Punch“, which didn’t last long, worked as a reporter for two subsequent papers, wrote several books of fiction, of which “Solomon’s Story” was one, and wrote “Caught in a Corner”, a play that lasted two seasons. He also acted in a play, though a reviewer was unimpressed. He eventually moved to Canada and passed away in 1913 at the age of 77.
It is claimed that Peter G Thomson, the owner of the publishing company that released “Solomon’s Story”, didn’t make much money on the book, despite its critical acclaim, because the illustrations cost too much money. That didn’t dissuade from Peter hiring Farny for the 1882’s “Patience – OR – The Poet and the Milkmaid” book, which was very elaborately illustrated. In fact, the Cincinnati Public Library’s digital website has scanned numerous highly ornate books that Thomson published. How successful his publishing arm was isn’t clear to me, but that’s not where he made his money. Among other successful ventures, he anticipated the need for good quality paper for printing, launching a paper company that began serving the City of Cincinnati, among others. You can learn more about Peter G. Thomson here and here.
The book was introduced with advertising like this:
And the reviews were strong, such as this one from the Cincinnati Commercial:
Here are the twenty images Farny illustrated. While most have Farny’s symbol on them, some don’t:
