Kelly, Piet & Co., Baltimore
John B. Piet, Baltimore

The firm of Kelly, Hedian, & Piet was established in 1859 by M. J. Kelly, P. J. Hedian and John B. Piet. It was a bookseller, printer, publisher and stationery located at 174 Baltimore Street in Baltimore.

Previously Kelly and Piet had been associated with the publishing house of John Murphy & Co. In 1858 Piet left Murphy and in 1859 Kelly left the Murphy company.

Kelly, Hedian & Piet was mainly a Catholic book publisher noting Bibles and the popular "Catholic Mirror" as its mainstays.

The Mirror had a pro-confederacy slant as many Catholic priests in the Baltimore area owned slaves. In October, 1863 Kelly and Piet were arrested because of the Mirror's anti-Lincoln rhetoric.

In February, 1864 Kelly, Hedian & Piet was succeeded by Kelly & Piet. In September, 1868 Theophilus J. Kelly and Walter F. Pollard were admitted to the firm as partners and the name was changed to Kelly, Piet & Co. Kelly died in 1879 after a short illness.

In 1880 John B. Piet succeeded the latter firm and with the admission of new partners (John B. Piet, Jr. and Stephen Tongue) in 1882 the publishing establishment was called John B. Piet & Co.

To summarize:
Kelly, Hedian & Piet (1859-1864) KHP
Kelly & Piet (1864-1868) KP
Kelly, Piet & Co. (1868-1879) KPCo
John B. Piet (1880-1882) JBP
John B. Piet & Co. (1882-) JBPCo.
(All of these firms were located at 174 Baltimore Street.)

Although books for juveniles were not a big part of these firms' output, they did publish several series.

Edgeworth Library (KPCo., JBP)
Golden Pheasant Series (KPCo., JBP)
Home Library (KPCo.)
Novelty Premium Books (JBP)
Patron's Library of Spanish (KPCo., JBP)
Schmid's Exquisite Tales (KPCo., JBP)