N. Tibbals & Co.
N. Tibbals & Son
N. Tibbals & Sons
Tibbals & Whiting

Reverend Nathan Tibbals

Nathan Tibbals founded the New York City Tibbals book firm, N. Tibbals and Co. in 1848. He was born in Milford, Connecticut in 1815 and died in Brooklyn in 1897. Not surprisingly as a minister, his main interest was in theological titles. His ministerial career began in Fairfield, Connecticut in 1841 and ended in 1854 in Astoria, Conn. A throat ailment of an unknown type caused his retirement from the pulpit.

In the early years he had a partner Gideon N. Powell. The details of this relationship are unknown to me but it was dissolved in 1858. Later Powell entered into a boot and shoe business with his brother David B. Powell.

In 1865-1866 Tibbals & Whiting were active publishers. No information about this named firm is available but it published at the same address as the N. Tibbals & Co. firm and thus was clearly related in some fashion.

In 1869 Nathan's son, John A. J. Tibbals, joined him to establish N. Tibbals and Son. In 1873 a second son, Nathan V. Tibbals associated with the publishing house and it was renamed N. Tibbals and Sons.

In 1887 the firm N. Tibbals and Sons went out of business because of financial setbacks. The newly named Tibbals Book Company returned later that year. After the death of Nathan Tibbals in 1897 the company was renamed the N. D. Tibbals Book Company.

Here is an 1883 trade card for N. Tibbals and Sons

Undated trade card:

1857-1858 N. Tibbals
1859-1864 N. Tibbals & Co.
1865-1866 Tibbals & Whiting
1867-1869 N. Tibbals & Co.
1869-1873 N. Tibbals & Son
1873-1887 N. Tibbals & Sons
1887-1897 Tibbals Book Company
1897 N. D. Tibbals Book Company

Addresses:
100 Nassau Street 1857
118 Nassau Street 1857-1860
120 Nassau Street 1861
145 Nassau Street and 37 Park Row 1862-1865
37 Park Row 1866-1876
124 Nassau Street 1876-1886
26 Warren Street 1886-1900+

Juvenile Series
It was mainly N. Tibbals and Sons that published the series books for juveniles. From the mid 1870's until the early 1880's this firm was a prolific publisher of children's books in series.

Of note is the fact that Tibbals' books for juveniles are quite uncommon. Thus, many of the series below do not have any pictures of the titles.

The juvenile series of the Tibbals' firms are listed below.