Nathaniel Stone Simpkins

Nathaniel Stone Simpkins (Jan. 8, 1796 – June 18, 1887) was a bookseller, publisher, and legislator in Massachusetts in the 19th century.[1] He ran a bookshop and circulating library in Boston ca.1820-1830.[2][3][4] "In 1835 he established the Barnstable Journal [of Barnstable, Massachusetts], and in 1856 he established the Yarmouth Register" of Yarmouth, Massachusetts.[5] Simpkins served as a "Representative to the General Court of Mass. in 1836, 1850 and 1851."[5][6]

He married Eliza Jane Thacher (1803–1836) in ca.1824; and Mary Sears (b. 1807) in 1852. His parents were John Simpkins and Olive Stone of Brewster, Massachusetts.[5] Siblings included Caroline Simpkins, Olive Simpkins (Mrs. John Capen), Elizabeth Simpkins (Mrs. George P. Bangs), John Simpkins, and Boston bookseller Samuel Grant Simpkins.[7][8][9]

Suffolk Circulating Library

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Among the titles available to subscribers of Simpkins' Suffolk Circulating Library in the early 1820s:[10]

  • Stephen Burroughs' Memoirs[11]
  • D. Campbell's Overland Journaey to India
  • Richard Cumberland's Jew of Mogadore, a comic opera
  • Daniel Drake's Picture of Cincinnati
  • Evans' Pedestrious Tour of 4,000 miles in America[12]
  • Catherine Hutton's Welsh Mountaineer
  • M. De Genlis' Zuma
  • Isabella Kelly's Ruthinglenne
  • Miss Leslie's Young Ladies' Mentor
  • Marvellous Chronicle, or Magazine of Wonders
  • Masonick Melodies
  • Theodore Melville's White Knight[13]
  • Mirror of the Graces, Advice on Female Accomplishments
  • Hannah More's Strictures on Education
  • Amelia Opie's Simple Tales
  • Paris Spectator, or the Customs of Parisians
  • Park's Travels in the Interior of Africa
  • Isaac Pocock's Libertine, an opera
  • Polyanthos
  • President's Tour through the United States
  • Thomas Skinner Surr's A Winter in London[14]
  • Symzonia, or a Voyage to the Internal World

References

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  1. ^ WorldCat. Simpkins, Nathaniel Stone 1798-1887
  2. ^ Simpkins' bookshop and circulating library was located at the corner of Court Street and Brattle Street, on the site of today's Government Center. Cf. "Books, stationery, &c. Nathaniel S. Simpkins, no.23, Court-Street (nearly opposite the head of Market-street)." Boston Intelligencer & Evening Gazette; Date: 03-04-1820
  3. ^ "Nathaniel S. Simpkins, Court-street, corner of Brattle-street." Boston Commercial Gazette; Date: 12-25-1826
  4. ^ "Agents of the American Peace Society," Advocate of Peace, no.10, Sept. 1836
  5. ^ a b c John R. Totten (1910), Thacher-Thatcher genealogy, [New York]: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, OL 23347275M
  6. ^ Resolves of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, passed. 1837
  7. ^ Peter Thacher. Samuel Grant Simpkins: a memorial. Boston: Printed by Geo. H. Ellis, 1890. Google books
  8. ^ WorldCat. Simpkins, Samuel Grant 1802-1889
  9. ^ Boston Directory. 1832
  10. ^ Catalogue of the Suffolk Circulating Library, corner of Court and Brattle Streets, Boston : containing History--Biography--Voyages--Travels--Miscellanies--Magazines--Reviews--Novels--Tales--Romances and plays--alphabetically arranged. Boston, Mass.: N.S. & J. Simpkins, 1822
  11. ^ WorldCat. Burroughs, Stephen 1765-1840
  12. ^ WorldCat. Evans, Estwick 1787-1866
  13. ^ WorldCat. Melville, Theodore
  14. ^ WorldCat. Surr, T. S. (Thomas Skinner) 1770-1847

Further reading

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Published by N.S. Simpkins

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  • Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance. (1827), Fourteenth annual report of the Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance, with resolutions passed at a public meeting held November 5, 1827, Boston: N.S. Simpkins and Co., OL 13488096M
  • Murray, Lindley (1827), Murray's English reader, Boston: N.S. Simpkins, OCLC 4886556, OL 13488646M
  • Ezra Shaw Goodwin. Alice Bradford, or, The birth day's experience of religion. Boston: N.S. Simpkins & Co., and Barnstable, Mass.: N.S. Simpkins, 1828 Google books
  • Barnstable Journal and County Advertiser [1]
  • Charles Lowell (1831), Men accountable only to God for their religious opinions, Boston: N.S. Simpkins & Co., OL 596822M
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