George Maclean Rose was born in Scotland in 1829. After wandering through several printing organizations, he joined Mr. Robert Hunter to form Hunter, Rose and Company, a printing and binding company. Hunter died in 1877 and one year later Rose’s brother Daniel, an experienced printer, joined the company. There was no name change at that time.

There were three brothers who formed the Belford Brothers -Alexander,Charles and J. Robert. The brothers along with James Clarke formed the Belford Brothers. Alexander Belford and James Clarke moved to Chicago to become the Belford, Clarke Company. In 1878 J. Robert Belford along with with George Rose set up the Rose-Belford Publishing Company. In 1883 when Robert Belford left for New York, George Rose reorganized to start up the Rose Publishing Company. The Rose Publishing Company failed in 1894.

Currently I am aware of three Peck titles that Rose published. The Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa editions are noted below.

The Rose Publishing firm printed Peck’s Fun as per this advertisement from the March, 1883 Rose Library.

Rose also published two editions of The Grocery Man and Peck’s Bad Boy. A hardcover book was published with 152 pages. Its print date is unclear. This title was also published in The Rose Library as #41. Therefore it was published in August ,1883. Since the United States copyright date was granted on August 24, 1883, this may mean that the Rose Publishing Company copy is the true first.

This firm published Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa in two different formats. A hardcover 1883 150 page edition contained the first XXXVI chapters (the same text as in the 1883 Belford, Clarke and Company edition). It is most likely a later edition than the 1883 Belford, Clarke and Company version. The book is 7.5 x 5.

In addition this firm published Peck’s Bad Boy in “The Rose Library”. It appeared as Number 36 in the March, 1883 edition. This Peck title received its U.S. copyright March 1, 1883. Thus, it is not totally clear whether the printing of this Rose edition predated the publication of the American first edition published by Belford, Clarke and Company which was “to be ready March, 1st”.

(9 x 12)