Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/99

Rh that now. But,’ said he, ‘would you like me to tell you how you could make your fortune?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ ‘I propose to issue a uniform edition of my works, and they will go like hot cakes. Would you like to publish them?’ I replied, that they would suit New England better than New York. Some months later, when Turretin was ready, a gentleman came into my store and asked for it. He sat down and examined it a little, and, turning to me, said, ‘I wonder you ventured on this large work.’ I told him that others had shared in that idea, and told the story of Dr. Beecher. He laughed heartily, and said, ‘He is my father.’ Henry Ward Beecher had just come to Brooklyn, and I had not met him before. My share of the edition was soon disposed of, and some hundreds more came from Scotland, which found a ready market.”

“Shortly after my return from England, I published an edition of Henry’s Commentary, in six volumes, octavo. It was my largest undertaking. The stereotype plates were printed by a printer in Spruce Street, who kept them deposited in his vault. One day he came to me and said he required the room in the vault, and asked me to remove them to my own vault in Broadway, I told him to take them out at his own convenience and send them to me, and I would pay for the trouble, but not to leave them an hour after they were taken from his vault. Contrary to these orders, he took them out on a Saturday, left them on the floor of his office, and that night several buildings were burned down and these plates went with them, a dead loss to me. They cost originally about eighteen thousand dollars. The next year I went again to England, and bought another set of plates, from which we have printed many editions.”