Way and Williams

ay & Williams, Publishers was officially established in 1895-Washington Irving Way, a bibliophile, native of Canada and former railroad executive, and Chauncey Williams, a Wisconsin native reared in England and a former advertiser-the firm had its predecessor in W. Irving Way and Company, a small publishing-bookselling company begun by Way in 1892. The new firm designated itself "Way and Williams, Publishers, Importers, and Booksellers." Joining fifty-three other publishing firms in Chicago also but determined to be unique, Irving Way and Chauncey Williams shared a vision of producing finely printed books in limited editions. Although the firm lasted for only three years (1895-1898) and produced only sixty-six books, many of its titles are visually impressive and represent the work of some of the major artists and book designers of the period. There was a heavy emphasis on British imports among the earlier titles, but gradually the emphasis shifted to American writers; and many prominent authors saw their books breathe life with a Way & Williams imprint. The firm published both well-known and relatively obscure authors, many of them from the Chicago literary scene. Among the better-known writers represented by the firm were Kate Chopin, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Allen White, Octave Thanet (Alice French), Edgar Lee Masters, and L. Frank Baum; and their works were often shown to advantage by the artistic input of Bruce Rogers, Maxfield Parrish, Will Bradley, and Frank Hazenplug, among others.

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