Sampson R. Urbino

Emblem of S.R. Urbino, publisher, Boston, 1870

Sampson R. Urbino (1818-1896) or S.R. Urbino was a German-born bookseller, publisher and library proprietor in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in foreign-language books.

Prior to bookselling, Urbino worked as a teacher in Boston.[1] In the mid-1850s he bought "Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody's circulating library and book-store on West Street. He developed the library and also added German, French, and books in other foreign languages to his stock. He then ... began publishing the well-known series of Ahn's and Ollendorf's readers and grammars, and other text-books."[2][3] The business operated from an office on Summer Street (ca.1856)[4] Winter Street (ca.1857-1861)[5] School Street (ca.1864-1865)[6] and Bromfield Street (ca.1870).

Advertisement for S.R. Urbino, School Street, Boston, 1864

Urbino sold part of his textbook enterprise "to Henry Holt & Co. shortly before retiring from business in 1865. He sold his business to De Vries, Ibarra & Co., to whom he also transferred the services of Mr. Carl Schoenhof and Miss Fanny Moeller."[7]

He supported the Free Soil party;[8] the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War;[9] and the National Liberal League.[10] He belonged to the American Association for the Promotion of Social Science.[11] In 1889 "S.R. Urbino and 30 others" presented a petition to the Massachusetts House of Representatives asking for "legislation providing that one-third of the members of school committees in cities and towns shall be women."[12]

Urbino lived in Roxbury and Newton, Massachusetts, and was married to Levina Buoncuore Urbino, a writer and translator.[13][14]

Published by S.R. Urbino

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to S.R. Urbino.
  1. Boston Directory. 1852
  2. Publishers Weekly, April 4, 1896 Google books
  3. For context, see: List of libraries in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts
  4. Boston Almanac. 1856
  5. Boston Almanac, 1857, 1859; Boston Directory, 1861; Boston commercial directory for 1871
  6. Boston Directory, 1864; Boston Almanac, 1865
  7. Publishers Weekly, April 4, 1896
  8. Reunion of the Free soilers of 1848-1852, at the Parker House, Boston, Massachusetts, June 28, 1888. Cambridge: Wilson, 1888
  9. Richard F. Miller. Harvard's Civil War: a history of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. UPNE, 2005
  10. Equal rights in religion: Report of the Centennial Congress of Liberals, and organization of the National Liberal League, at Philadelphia, on the fourth of July, 1876. Boston: National Liberal League, 1876
  11. Constitution, address, and list of members of the American Association for the Promotion of Social Science, with the questions proposed for discussion: to which are added minutes of the transactions of the association. Boston: Wright & Potter. 1866. Retrieved 2010-09-14.
  12. Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Jan. 24, 1889
  13. William Cushing. Initials and pseudonyms: a dictionary of literary disguises, Volume 1. NY: T. Y. Crowell & Co., 1885
  14. Directory of the town of Newton. 1871
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