Miss Mulock's Novels 1853 Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock; Harper & Brothers

Harper & Brothers, Nos. 329 & 331 Pearl Street New York. Hardcover. Miss Mulock's Novels 1853 Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock; Published by Harper & Brothers, Nos. 329 & 331 Pearl Street New York; 169 pages plus ads for other Harper & Brothers books; Good+ green cloth hardcover with leather title plates to spine; some chipping to plates; bright clean pages; a little speckled foxing to first few pages; Stories included are Agatha's Husband; Olive; The Ogilvies; The Head of the Family; This rare book was published the year the fire of 1853 destroyed the headquarters of Harper & Brothers, Nos. 329 & 331 Pearl Street New York; The Harper offices in New York City were claimed by fire in 1853, when a plumber lit a lamp with a roll of paper and then attempted to extinguish the burning roll in a tub of water. The tub, however, contained camphine, a chemical used to clean ink from the rollers and within seconds the building was ablaze. Many irreplaceable books and expensive presses were lost and the Harper brothers had to decide whether or not to refinance and rebuild. In 1855, Harper & Brothers moved into two new buildings, five stories high and covering half an acre in Franklin Square. These fireproof buildings made the first use of Peter Cooper's wrought-iron beams, later used in the construction of Cooper Union. Before this, no fireproof building more than one story high had been built, and the New York Times wrote that the Harper brother's new home at Franklin Square, may be justly called the forerunner of the modern type of steel skyscraper. . Good. 1853. First Edition.