A·C·McClurg & Co. is a name deeply connected with the history of American bookselling, publishing, and literary culture. Founded in Chicago in 1844, the company grew from a nineteenth-century bookstore and stationery business into an influential publishing house and book wholesaler. Over more than a century, A·C·McClurg became associated with important American writers and works, including W. E. B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk and Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan of the Apes.

After more than a century of activity, the original company ceased operations in 1967. Decades later, the A·C·McClurg name was revived. According to the present-day company, the house reopened in 2008 as a hybrid publisher, bringing the McClurg publishing tradition into a new era in which authors could retain ownership of their work and receive professional publishing services.

Today, A·C·McClurg & Co. presents itself as a working publishing house rather than simply a historical imprint. Its stated purpose is to provide authors with the editorial, design, production, publishing, distribution, and related professional support needed to turn manuscripts and ideas into finished books while allowing authors to retain their rights.

The Beginning in Chicago: 1844

The story of A·C·McClurg & Co. begins in Chicago in 1844.

The business originally opened as W. W. Barlow & Co. and subsequently became known as S. C. Griggs & Co. The enterprise developed during a period when Chicago was rapidly emerging as a major commercial center. Books, stationery, imported publications, and other printed materials were becoming increasingly important to the city's growing population and intellectual life.

Alexander C. McClurg joined the firm in 1859. A former law student, McClurg entered the business world in Chicago and eventually became one of the central figures in the company's development. After serving in the Civil War, he returned to the firm and became a junior partner.

His association with the company would ultimately give the business the name by which it became historically known.

Rebuilding After the Great Chicago Fire

A defining moment in the company's early history came with the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

The company's premises were destroyed in the fire, part of the enormous devastation that transformed Chicago. Following the disaster, the business was reorganized as Jansen, McClurg & Co. and rebuilt its operations.

The rebuilding of the company became an early example of the resilience that would characterize its history. Rather than disappearing with the destruction of its premises, the business continued its bookselling, stationery, importing, and publishing activities.

In 1887, Alexander C. McClurg became the senior partner, and the company adopted the name A·C·McClurg & Co.

A Literary House Takes Shape

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, A·C·McClurg developed a reputation extending beyond bookselling and wholesaling.

The company became involved with literary culture in Chicago, including the revival of The Dial in 1880. The magazine became an important platform for literary criticism and intellectual discussion and subsequently achieved national recognition.

Chicago itself was developing into an important literary center, and McClurg's bookstore became part of that environment. The company was not simply moving books through the marketplace; it was participating in the literary culture of a rapidly developing American city. The Encyclopedia of Chicago identifies A. C. McClurg as an important participant in the city's publishing history and notes its connection with The Dial.

Another Fire and Another Rebuilding

In 1899, another major fire destroyed the company's premises.

Once again, the company rebuilt. According to the present-day A·C·McClurg historical account, Alexander McClurg financed the rebuilding after the second fire. The new McClurg building subsequently became an important part of the company's Chicago history.

Alexander C. McClurg died in 1901, but the company retained his name.

The name A·C·McClurg & Co. therefore outlived its namesake and continued into the twentieth century, becoming associated with a broad range of American publishing activity.

W. E. B. Du Bois and The Souls of Black Folk

One of the most significant books associated with A·C·McClurg & Co. was W. E. B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk.

Published by McClurg in 1903, the book became an important work in American literary and intellectual history. Du Bois combined essays, sociology, history, autobiography, and literary expression to examine race and American society at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The publication demonstrates the range of the company's literary interests during this period. McClurg's historical catalogue was not confined to one genre or one type of reader. Its authors included literary writers, historians, popular novelists, and writers working in emerging areas of American popular fiction.

Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Birth of Tarzan in Book Form

Perhaps the most commercially famous author associated with A·C·McClurg & Co. was Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Burroughs's Tarzan of the Apes first appeared in magazine form in 1912. After being rejected by several major book publishers, the novel was eventually published in book form by A·C·McClurg & Co. in 1914. It became a major success and established one of the most recognizable characters in popular fiction.

McClurg went on to publish numerous Burroughs titles. The company's historical account identifies 18 Edgar Rice Burroughs titles associated with the house, including Tarzan of the Apes and A Princess of Mars.

The relationship with Burroughs became one of the defining chapters of McClurg's publishing history.

Edgar Rice Burroughs titles associated with A·C·McClurg

Among the notable Burroughs works published by McClurg were:

• Tarzan of the Apes — 1914

• The Return of Tarzan — 1915

• A Princess of Mars — 1917

• The Gods of Mars — 1918

• At the Earth's Core — 1922

• The Cave Girl — 1925

• The Monster Men — 1929

• The Outlaw of Torn — 1927

Bibliographical records identify A. C. McClurg editions of these and other Burroughs works.

The connection between McClurg and Burroughs is particularly notable because it illustrates how the company participated in the development of popular American fiction at a time when genres such as science fiction, adventure, and Western fiction were still developing their modern identities.

Other Authors Published by A·C·McClurg

The company's historical catalogue extended far beyond Du Bois and Burroughs.

The modern A·C·McClurg & Co. identifies a number of authors from the original house's publishing history, including L. Frank Baum, Gene Stratton-Porter, Randall Parrish, Zane Grey, Mary Hartwell Catherwood, Thomson Jay Hudson, Clarence E. Mulford, Cyrus Townsend Brady, and Charles Fletcher Lummis.

Selected Historic Authors and Books

The modern company's historical page identifies Randall Parrish as having 19 titles with the house and Edgar Rice Burroughs as having 18. It also identifies Mulford with the creation of Hopalong Cassidy and describes the publishing relationships of the other authors listed above.

From Publishing to Wholesaling

The business model of A·C·McClurg changed over time.

After its prominent period as a publisher, the company increasingly focused on the wholesale book trade. Historical accounts indicate that by the early 1920s, the company's operations had shifted substantially toward wholesaling. The business remained active for decades before ultimately ceasing operations in 1967.

The end of the original company did not erase its place in American publishing history. Its catalogue continued to represent a period in which Chicago was becoming an important center of American bookselling, publishing, and literary culture.

The End of the Original House

After 123 years of activity, A·C·McClurg & Co. closed in 1967.

For decades afterward, the McClurg name remained primarily a historical reference: a name connected with nineteenth-century Chicago, The Dial, W. E. B. Du Bois, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan, and a broad catalogue of American literature.

Then the name returned.

The Rebirth of A·C·McClurg & Co.

The modern A·C·McClurg & Co. describes its revival as deliberate rather than simply commemorative.

According to the company, the house reopened in 2008 as a hybrid publisher. The purpose of the revival was to bring the publishing house's professional capabilities to contemporary writers while changing the traditional relationship between publisher and author.

The modern company describes its model as one in which the author retains 100% of the rights to the book, while A·C·McClurg provides professional publishing services. Its stated mission is to help writers publish work they are proud to put their names on without requiring them to surrender ownership of their work.

This represents a significant difference between the publishing environment of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and today's publishing landscape.

A New Model for Authors

The modern A·C·McClurg & Co. operates as a hybrid publisher, describing its model as an arrangement in which authors retain creative control and ownership while the publishing house provides professional services.

Those services include manuscript preparation and editing, cover and interior design, ISBN and publication setup, ebook production, print-on-demand, retailer setup, metadata, distribution, and related publishing support.

The company's stated philosophy is that authors should not have to surrender ownership of their books simply to gain access to professional publishing infrastructure.

In this sense, the revival takes a historical idea—the publishing house as a place where books are professionally made and brought to readers—and adapts it to the modern publishing environment.

From the Printing Press to Digital Publishing

The technology surrounding publishing has changed dramatically since 1844.

The original McClurg operation worked in an environment of physical printing presses, booksellers, wholesalers, railway distribution, newspapers, magazines, and brick-and-mortar bookstores. Modern publishing involves digital manuscripts, electronic books, print-on-demand technology, online retailers, metadata systems, digital distribution, and global sales channels.

Yet the fundamental task remains recognizable: transform a manuscript into a finished book and make it available to readers.

The modern A·C·McClurg & Co. explicitly describes this continuity as part of its identity. The company says that while formats have changed considerably since 1844, the essential publishing job remains the same: making the book properly and getting it where readers can find it.

A Publishing House Reopened for a New Generation

The revival of A·C·McClurg & Co. therefore connects two very different eras of publishing.

The original company operated during the development of American commercial publishing and helped introduce readers to authors whose work became part of the country's literary and popular culture.

The modern house operates in an environment where authors have more publishing options than ever before. Writers can approach traditional publishers, publish independently, or work with companies that provide professional publishing services.

A·C·McClurg's modern model is positioned between those possibilities: professional publishing infrastructure combined with author ownership.

According to the company's current account, more than 2,500 independent authors have been served since the revival, with distribution reaching more than 100 retail platforms worldwide. These figures are company-reported.

The Legacy Continues

The history of A·C·McClurg & Co. is ultimately a history of change.

It began as a Chicago bookseller in 1844. It survived fires and rebuilt. It became associated with literary publishing and The Dial. It published W. E. B. Du Bois. It helped bring Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan of the Apes into book form. It published writers across genres ranging from literary and historical fiction to adventure and Westerns. It later shifted toward wholesaling and eventually closed in 1967.

Then, more than four decades later, the name returned.

The 2008 reopening transformed A·C·McClurg & Co. from a historical publishing name into a contemporary publishing house. Rather than reproducing the business of the nineteenth century, the revived company adapted the publishing-house concept to the needs of modern independent authors.

Its stated philosophy is straightforward: authors have stories worth telling, professional publishing should be accessible to them, and the person whose name appears on the cover should retain ownership of the book.

From a Chicago bookstore opened in 1844 to a modern hybrid publisher, the A·C·McClurg name has passed through more than 180 years of American publishing history.

The technology has changed.

The marketplace has changed.

The readers have changed.

But the central purpose remains the same: to help bring books into the world.

Historic Authors Associated With A·C·McClurg & Co.

W. E. B. Du Bois

Notable work: The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

Du Bois's landmark work was published by A·C·McClurg in 1903 and remains one of the most important books associated with the company's historical catalogue.

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Notable works: Tarzan of the Apes, The Return of Tarzan, A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, At the Earth's Core

Burroughs became one of the most commercially significant authors associated with McClurg. The company published the book editions of Tarzan of the Apes and numerous other Burroughs novels.

L. Frank Baum

Notable association: Oz-related literature

Baum is among the prominent historical authors identified by the revived A·C·McClurg & Co. as having been published by the original house.

Gene Stratton-Porter

Notable association: Popular American fiction and nature writing

Stratton-Porter is also identified among the writers published by the historic house.

Randall Parrish

Notable association: Historical and adventure fiction

The modern A·C·McClurg historical account identifies Parrish as having 19 titles with the house.

Zane Grey

Notable association: Western fiction

Grey was among the writers connected with the house during the development of popular Western fiction in the early twentieth century.

Clarence E. Mulford

Notable association: Hopalong Cassidy

Mulford created Hopalong Cassidy, a character that became one of the enduring figures of American Western popular culture. The modern McClurg history identifies six Mulford titles associated with the house.

Mary Hartwell Catherwood

Notable association: Historical novels and short stories

Catherwood was a Midwestern historical novelist and short-story writer published by the historic house.

Cyrus Townsend Brady

Notable association: Sea stories, American history and fiction

Brady was a prolific writer whose work included sea stories and historical subjects; the modern McClurg history identifies four titles associated with the house.

Charles Fletcher Lummis

Notable association: Southwestern history and journalism

Lummis was a journalist and historian of the American Southwest whose work was also represented in the McClurg catalogue.

A Name With a Future

A·C·McClurg & Co. began with books in nineteenth-century Chicago and became part of the history of American publishing. Its original catalogue included works that would become lasting parts of American literature and popular culture.

The modern revival does not attempt to reproduce the publishing industry of 1844, 1903, or 1914. Instead, it carries forward the central idea of a publishing house while adapting it to contemporary authors and contemporary publishing technology.

The result is a publishing house that looks backward for its name and legacy while looking forward in its approach to authors.

A·C·McClurg & Co. is, in that sense, not simply a historical name brought back to life. It is a publishing tradition reopened for a new generation of writers.