Yesterdays with Authors

Starting as a teenage clerk in a Boston bookstore, James T. Fields quickly rose to become a junior partner in the firm that would dominate American publishing in the nineteenth century. His keen eye and persuasive charm led him to convince a despondent Nathaniel Hawthorne to entrust him with The Scarlet Letter, and his transatlantic trips secured the American rights to Charles Dickens and other British luminaries. The narrative is peppered with lively recollections of meetings with Wordsworth, Thackeray, and the playwright Mary Russell Mitford, whose candid letters pepper the pages.

Beyond business, Fields paints a vivid picture of literary society through witty anecdotes, personal correspondence, and reflections on the portraits that line his study. Listeners will hear the bustling atmosphere of the Old Corner Bookstore and the warm camaraderie that linked authors across the Atlantic. The memoir offers a rare, intimate glimpse into the people behind the classics, making the golden age of publishing feel both grand and personally approachable.