For sale is an original 1876 BILLHEAD from MACMILLIAN & Co., 21 Astor Place, New York. This publishing company served as publishers for Oxford University. This handwritten receipt, dated June 9, 1876, records the sale of a one year subscription to Macmillan’s Nature Magazine for the sum of $5 to Professor Peter Collier. This original antique receipt is in excellent condition.
In 1843, Brothers Alexander and Daniel Macmillan founded their bookshop and publishing house in Cambridge, UK. After Daniel’s death in 1857, Alexander opened a London branch. Macmillan’s headquarters were in Cambridge until 1863, when they moved to London. Alexander established contacts with eminent men of science in London and hosted ‘tobacco parliaments’ to discuss science, art and hot topics of the day, such as Darwinism. This fostered friendships among the great scientific educators of the Victorian era, including Huxley and the physicist John Tyndall, who were eager to write for Macmillan. In 1859, Alexander launched Macmillan’s Magazine, the first shilling monthly in England, aiming to unify science, literature and the arts under one banner, with David Masson as the editor. Huxley’s article ‘Time & Life’ was published in the second issue. The first issue of Nature was published on 4 November 1869.
