Sumner Charles Britton

Born in 1866 and originally from Arkansas, Sumner Charles Britton worked as a journalist before building a career in Chicago publishing. Sources on his life consistently connect him with the city’s book trade at the turn of the 20th century, where he became known as a capable publishing salesman and organizer.

After the George M. Hill Company collapsed, Britton and Frank Kennicott Reilly launched a new venture that became Reilly & Britton. The firm is especially notable for publishing much of L. Frank Baum’s work, including many of the Oz books, which gives Britton an important place in the history of American popular publishing.

Britton also wrote fiction himself. His best-known surviving work is Dreamy Hollow: A Long Island Romance, a novel that shows his interest in sentiment, atmosphere, and entertainment for a general readership. He died in 1927, leaving behind a modest but intriguing legacy as both an author and a publisher.