Background
Click here to read Ronald Reagan's
statement about the effect of this book on his life.
In 1889 a young preacher by the name of Charles Sheldon
arrived in Kansas and founded the Central Congregational Church of
Topeka. It was his conviction that to truly follow the example and
teachings of Jesus, Christians must help to solve the social problems
around them. For that reason, and also to fill seats at his Sunday
services, Sheldon pioneered the continuing story-sermon. In 1896
he read to his congregation his most famous series, In His Steps, which
asked the question, "What would Jesus do?" It was
published as a paperback book in 1897 and a hardback in 1898.
Just a few months later another young preacher, Harold
Bell Wright, arrived at another Kansas church, the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ) in Pittsburg. Wright had the same
conviction about social ministry and the same need to attract and
influence the good people of Pittsburg. In 1902 he wrote That
Printer of Udell's,
a story very similar to Sheldon's story but set in Pittsburg. Harold
Bell Wright intended to read That Printer of Udell's to his
congregation at successive Sunday night services, but before he did the
story was published in The Christian Century, a Disciples denominational
paper. In his autobiography, To My Sons, Wright says that he was
so disheartened by the stripped-down version of the story that The
Christian Century produced, that he "hid the poor mutilated corpse in
the bottom of the least used drawer of my desk and turned to other
things." Wright says, "My congregation, of course, was reading this
emasculated, refined, sterilized, denominationally pure and sweet
version as it appeared in the church paper. For me to read the original
manuscript to them with any hope of holding their attention was now
impossible." (To My Sons, 212-213). Apparently Wright never read That
Printer of Udell's to any congregation.
But a local friend, Dr. William Williams, loved the
story and paid travel expenses for Wright to take it to Elsbery W.
Reynolds, president of The Book Supply Company in Chicago. Reynolds
published it, and Wright's career as a writer was begun. Wright always
believed, however, that That Printer of Udell's was only preliminary to
the start of his career. "You see, I looked upon 'That Printer of
Udell's' as a sort of accident. It was not written primarily as a story.
I was now determined to write a novel deliberately. I agreed with myself
that if this story succeeded to any positive degree I would take it as
proving that writing was my job."
That second story, The Shepherd of the Hills, quickly
became a best seller, and Wright left pastoral ministry to become a
writer.
Collecting
All American first editions are by
the Book Supply Company, are green, and look exactly like the illustrations above. Much later, Hodder and Stoughton published a British first edition.
In 1909, when BSC published The Calling of Dan Matthews, they reprinted That Printer in red to match the other books and
they produced a green library binding. In 1911 BSC published a new
edition with hundreds of minor changes in the text. The book was
reprinted many times by A. L. Burt, and by Appleton and Pelican.
Most of the early reprints carry no indication that they are not first
editions.
Recently
That Printer of Udell's has been re-published by Bethany, under the title, "The
Least of These My Brothers." As with other Harold Bell Wright
books published by Bethany, the text has been "edited" [lightly messed around with] by a Michael
Phillips. This editing makes no improvement to readability of the
book, and occasionally messes up Wright's poetic touch. Perhaps the
editing puts the publishers in some kind of improved marketing
position. Or perhaps Michael Phillips, who did us all a huge favor by
"translating" the works of George McDonald from old English into
modern English, simply conned Bethany into thinking Wright's books
also needed his editing--so he can receive royalties. I don't know. In
Wright's second book, The Shepherd of the Hills, there are places where
Phillips has changed Wright's original word "fog" to
"mist," and other places where he has changed Wright's
"mist" to "fog." I suppose this would come under
the category of "Random acts of editing."
Only 2500 first editions were printed, so they are scarce
today. Many of the first editions are in near-mint condition. Dust
jackets of the first edition are extremely rare. Reprints of this title,
mostly by Burt, are quite common and are not usually in as good a condition as
first editions. According to Frank Luther Mott, "total sales never
passed 450,000." Wright's own records indicate he collected royalties for
444,850 copies.
Notes for
"Collectibles" owners:
M. Pelican, 1996 {LT). This is a paperback
N. Pittsburg Bicentennial-Centennial Commission, 1975.
This is not an edition of this title, but a play based on the book and
written by the late Gene DeGruson.
There are several additional Hodder and Stoughton (UK)
editions. To be added later.
Review of Book
by Dr. Joyce Kinkead Copyright
1979 by Joyce Kinkead. Used by Permission.
Like his fictional minister, Dan Matthews, Wright was not the usual
minister. A self-educated
man, he had witnessed an immoral world during his youth when he lived
near brothels and saloons. During
his years as a minister, Wright keenly felt the hypocrisy of the church
members; thus with a sincere interest in his congregation, he attempted
to teach them how to practice Christianity in their everyday life.
A minister having his beliefs would undoubtedly divide his
congregation into factions, for some church members would see the truth
in his teaching whereas others would not want to be drawn from their
comfortable rut of simply attending church weekly, donating to the
mission fund, and raising money for the church through social events.
In many of Wright's attempts to change the church, he discovered
that stories could be helpful in instructing his congregation.
As a result, he wrote for his church members a fictional story, Practical
Christianity, which he later retitled That Printer of Udell's. This was followed by The Calling of Dan Matthews and God
and the Groceryman, each of which was designed to reform the church
members. When he wrote The
Uncrowned King, it was an allegory of the church.
That Printer of Udell's, a book of 29 chapters and 468
pages, published in 1903, was the first Wright novel to attack the
hypocrisy of the church and offer "a story of practical
Christianity," which is its subtitle. Continue
Review
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