Meyer, Hermann J. “Desert Rock Light-House (Coast of Maine.)”

Hermann J. Meyer.  “Desert Rock Light-House (Coast of Maine.)”

From Charles A. Dana’s The United States Illustrated. New York: H. J. Meyer, 1853. Steel engraving. Octavo. Very good condition.

Herrmann J. Meyer and his father, Joseph Meyer, were German publishers of an illustrated travel series called Meyer’s Universum.  Joseph Meyer very much admired the United States and sent his son to establish a publishing house in New York. Herrmann proceeded to publish an American edition of the Universum, but also desired to publish a new series of his own called, The United States Illustrated. Meyer enlisted the services of Charles A. Dana editor of the New York Tribune to serve as editor of the series. Unfortunately, the series did not do well, and Meyer decided to return to Germany. After the death of his father, he assumed control of their Bibliographischen Institut which is still in business today.