Portrait of Henry M Cist circa 1880

Henry M Cist was a Brigadier General  in Civil War and author of Army of the Cumberland, and served as director of the Chickamauga Memorial Association in 1889. Photo from private collection.

Additionally, Mr. Cist returned from the American Civil War and returned to his homestead in College Hill, Cincinnati, OH in 1866. In 1869 he was elected corresponding secretary of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland (Army of the Cumberland New York: Scribner's Sons). It was among the first written accounts of that battle. He also wrote about his other friends who were in the Civil War with him. He wrote a biography of The Life of General George H. Thomas.


Finally, as the later part of his life took place, he was instrumental in preserving Civil War battlefields. Congress authorized the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in 1890. Mr. Cist was a director in 1889. In 1892 he served as president of the Ohio Society, Sons of American Revolution.

Mr. Henry M. Cist died of pneumonia while touring Italy at age 63. He was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, OH, 1902.
born February 20, 1839  Died December 16, 1902.
Based on family stories. It is my conclusion that when the Cist family went to Europe at the turn of the century, they were visiting cultural institutions that placed winning bids on the Lewis J. Cist autograph collection. Henry Cist was making further connections to the causes of freedom and the fact that he died in Italy is a clue for me to do continued research. He died before he could write down his findings.

The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America Part III

     An additional note on early government printing seems in order here. The one obvious point is that government printing was done in cities other than first Philadelphia and later Washington. For example, in 1798, the majority of the 147 assigned government imprints belonged to Philadelphia firms-William Ross, John Fenno, Joseph Gates, and Way and Groff. But in New York (Louis Jones), Baltimore (William Pechin), Boston (John Russell), and Providence (Carter and Wilkinson), government contract printing was done.
     Cist's government printing was more than likely in the same vain as his earlier work with Steiner for the Pennsylvania assembly-paper, forms, and other miscellaneous printing. Since his imprint appeared on two editions of postal regulations, it may be safe to assume the same would be true for any of his other federal publications, although he may have done job printing for the Post Office Department. Another reason to suspect the level of Cist's government printing is the number of competitors who began to flood the new capital, including the aforementioned Way and Groff, Samuel Harrison Smith, and William Duane.  If imprints appeared on government publications, it was usually the imprint of Duane after 1800. McMurtrie concludes that as of 1802, "there was no one government printer."19 Finally, the DAB entry for Jacob Cist mentions only that Jacob managed his father's Washington office, which "was forced to close by reason of the change in federal administration,"20 when Adams left office in 1801. Thus, we can conclude that, lacking concrete evidence, the DAB entry on Cist is incorrect.
     There are other sources which help to fill in gaps on the printing career of Charles Cist. The 1790 census sheds some significant light on the extent of his business.21 His household consisted of two males over age sixteen (one was Cist), six males under age sixteen (one was his older son), and eight females (one of whom was his wife). Simple mathematics leaves at least fifteen unidentified individuals living in the Cist household-six of whom were males. From McCulloch's Additions we find that Conrad Zentler was an apprentice to Cist. Certainly, some of the six males living under Cist's roof were also apprentices; thus, we have an idea that Cist ran a sizable printing operation. The 1800 census shows the Cist household consisted of two males in the fifteen to twenty-six age range and seven females, not counting his wife. Since Jacob was probably in Washington City and young  Charles was only eight, this too probably represents apprentice printers.22 We can also find some idea of what the printer charged for his work. His proposal to print Congressional journals (1785) was for 1000 copies at 610 shillings and 5 shillings for binding per volume.23 a 1784 bill shows Cist charged 53 shillings 8 pence for printing blank bills (1,728 large bills or 3,456 smaller bills). These few examples also help to illustrate that Cist's margin of profit did not depend on book printing-instead , like most others of his trade, Cist made money on printing paper, blank forms, stationery, and assorted printing assignments. In contrast, the Congressional Commissioners of Accounts had earlier cited Steiner and Cist as being extravagant in their charges. In question was a L200 charge in 1779 for printing a broadside (Evans 15966) in German for the call of a constitutional convention. Five thousand copies of the circular were printed in 1778. Congress also registered its dissatisfaction with the charges of another Philadelphia printer, David Claypoole. This perhaps was one of the factors considered in 1785 when the Continental Congress did not select Cist to print its journals. We also know that Cist did not operate a book store at his printing shop as many other early printers did. No single Evans entry indicates Cist sold what he printed.24
     We do know Cist moved some aspect of his business to Washington by 1800, although , according to McCulloch, Cist printed for the post office before the government moved to the new capital city. McCulloch says Cist moved the English part of his printing to Washington. Cist must have had considerable work: McCulloch reports that the printer built two or three houses there. Cist sold his presses and much of the rest of his office in Washington. This is borne out by the scattered Cist imprints after 1800-only two other than the almanac. All of his printing after 1800 carried a Philadelphia imprint.25

The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America Part II

    4. William McCulloch, "Additions to Thomas's History of Printing," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 31 (April 1921), 203.
     5. Pennsylvania Colonial Records (Philadelphia: J. Severns, 1851-1853), XI, 319; Pennsylvania Colonial Records, XII, 404, 440, 448, 456. The mention of monetary units (dollars or pounds) is risky business considering the inflationary nature of currency in revolutionary America. The figures are cited for illustrated purposes - any discussion of the real value of the pending dollar would lengthen this brief essay beyond the percentage scope.
     6. U.S. Continental Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1904-1937), V, 829; VI, 996 ; VII, 325; XIII, 421: XIV, 550, 754: XV, 1241.
     7. The information on the office location of Steiner and Cist and for Cist is from the directory of publishers in Charles Evans, American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of all books, Pamphlets, and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America from the Genesis of Printing in 1639 Down to and including the Year 1800 (New York: Peter Smith, 1941-67) for the various years of operation. See also Joseph Sabin, Bibliotheca Americana. A Dictionary of Books Relating to America; From Its Dictionary to the Present Time (New York: Bibliographical Society of America, 1868-1936). Much of this was also published in H. Glenn Brown and Maude O. Brown , A Directory of the Book-arts and Book Trade in Philadelphia in 1820; including Printers and Engravers (New York: New York  Public Library, 1950); see also McCulloch , "Additions," AAS Proceedings, pp.95, 202.
     8. The descriptive statistics included in this paper are derived from the various volumes of Evans (volumes  5-14) after a careful hand -counting of Cist and Steiner and Cist imprints. This was supplemented with OVLC RLIN by searching for printers to verify any questionable entries or those about which Evans was not sure. Newspaper and almanac entries were also verified in Oswald Seidensticker, The First Century of German Printing in America , 1728-1830 (Philadelphia: Schaefer and Koradi, 1893).
     9. See Richard B. Sealock, "Publishing in Pennsylvania, 1785-1790," master's thesis, Columbia University, 1935; the Columbian Magazine was published for several years under various titles.
10. Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America with a Biography of Printers and an Account of Newspapers (New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), pp. 404-05; McCulloch, "Additions," AAS Proceedings, p. 204; Douglas C. McMurtrie, A History of Printing in the United States: The Story of the Introduction of the Press and of Its History and influence during the Pioneer Period in Each State of the Union (New York: B. Franklin, 1969), pp. 67, 268-70. Continue with the article...
Also considered were proposals by printers James Adams, John Dunlap, Henry Miller, Robert Aitken Eleazer Oswald, Francis Childs, and Benjamin Wheeler: Dunlap was awarded the lucrative printing job.11 Cist had done some work for Congress , though; he was due $418 in 1778 for making paper and about $150 for printing 22,228 sheets of loan certificates in 1786. In 1778 he was reimbursed for expenses incurred on a trip to Baltimore. He, along with another Philadelphia printer, James Claypoole, apparently did some printing work. In 1785, he printed a four-page outline by William Barton for the establishment of a mint (Evans B6136).12
     A letter from Pickering to the President of Congress, Elbridge Gerry, in 1785 is the strongest evidence of Cist's reputation. Supporting his fellow Philadelphian's printing proposal to Congress, Pickering referred to Cist's "ingenuity and worth" and high integrity. Pickering wrote:
     Indeed, I know not any one so proper  to be the printer  to the United States. For he is not a mere printer; but a man of letters. The English and German languages are familiar to him- he understands the French- and he has that acquaintance with the dead languages which is acquired by a liberal education. With these qualifications, he possesses great modesty and obliging manners. Such a character needs only to be known to receive from you all the countenance and encouragement which his own merits and the public good shall require.13
     While Pickering's efforts on behalf of Cist did not result in a successful government contract, he did recommend the printer to Webster. In March of 1792, Webster wrote to Pickering , "I highly approve of your employing Mr. Cist to print the Prompter, and cannot say his terms are unreasonable."14 The future Secretary of State had told Webster to consult with printers Bache, Joseph Crukshank, John Fenno, and Bailey for estimates for the job, and Cist was selected. In November, Webster wrote Pickering that Cist had forwarded $50 for sale of the Prompter (Evans 25006).15 Pickering's advocacy of Cist for government printing and Webster's satisfaction help future to establish Cist's status among the printers of early America.
     Cist's printing activities for the rest of the eighteenth century included well over 125 separate titles. Although many were pamphlets, broadsides, or booklets, the majority were book-length. A careful analysis, using Evans and Sabin as authorities, reveals interesting results, and although there is little available research  with which to compare Cist's printing, the data provide a microcosmic look at one printer's output.16 Statistically (using standard sources), Cist printed an almanac, a Bible, three books, and one short book in 1787. These statistics remained fairly consistent for the next several years- two books in 1782, four in 1783, four in 1784, and two in 1785. Interspersed during the first five years of his business were numerous broadsides and similar publications. In 1786, Cist's printing included six book-length works and five brief jobs, ranging from sixteen to forty pages. This trend continued on an annual basis until 1800, the year Cist opened a printing office in Washington. One steady imprint was the aforementioned German-language almanac. In addition, Cist printed George Frederich Wilhelm (Baron  von Steuben's  Regulations for the Control of the Troops of the United States (originally printed by Steiner and Cist in 1779 in a press-run of approximately 3,000 copies) seven times between 1782 and 1800 (Figure 1). He printed several agricultural treatises by noted husbandry man John Beale Bordley (Evans 26681, 26682, 30303, 31846, 33435, 35217, B10242), a New England primer (Evans 32529), a University of Pennsylvania Latin grammar (Evans 36309), and Webster's Primer (Evans 25006).
     Cist's German-language printing is the most interesting aspect of his career (Figure 2). His imprint on these German titles indicated "Gedrucktbey Carl Cist," or printed by Carl Cist, Carl being the printer's given Russian name. Among his fifty-seven German-language imprints identified by Evans are a Bible (Evans 35201), Paine's Common Sense (Evans 14963) with Steiner, a German grammar (Evans 20938) printed simultaneously in English (Evans 20937), numerous works on religion, and a German edition of Steuben's Regulations (Evans 26361). But this represents only a portion of Cist's German printing. The recent publication of a revised The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America identifies an other eighty-one Cist imprints which escaped Evans and Sabin. The majority of these (sixty-two) are four-pages broadsides, but eleven of the German-language titles are more significant publications, ranging from thirty-two to 252 pages. From an examination of this German-language bibliography, Cist appears to be as important as any German printer from 1788 to 1795, seventy-nine German titles carried Cist's imprint. With his recognized language skills, Cist also printed a handful of titles in Latin and French.17
     After 1800, Cist's printing decreased dramatically-generally he printed only the annual almanac and one other item from 1801 to 1805. These years represent the printer's opening a Washington office and introduce an inaccuracy in Cist's DAB entry.18 His biographer, Reginald C. McGrane, mentions that Cist was appointed public printer during the administration of President John Adams (1787-1801). This fact later emerged in the historical volume of Who Was Who, Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, and several other biographical compilations. This inaccuracy is also cited in H. Benjamin Powell's Philadelphia's First Fuel Crisis, a history of the anthracite market in Pennsylvania. But neither Thomas nor McMurtrie make mention of Cist as a public printer, although both indicate he set up a printing operation in Washington. Leonard White's massive The Federalists: A Study in Administrative History, 1789-1801, makes no mention of Cist. In fact, there was no public printer until 1861. Cist did some government printing work, both in Philadelphia and later in Washington. Cist's imprint appeared on two copies of Post Office regulations, one printed in Philadelphia in 1798 (34904) and one in Washington in 1800 (38801). He undoubtedly contracted for other government printing, a powerful cog in the patronage machinery. For the 223 government imprints listed in Evans  for 1799, 173 (77 percent) were unassigned. Only the postal laws (Evans 38801) carried Cist's imprint, and only twenty-five included a Washington imprint; Cist's and two other entries are the only ones assigned to a particular printer. The majority of the 173 unassigned entries were congressional bills or broadsides, and Cist more than likely contracted for some of this government work, but Cist was not the public printer.

     I am categorizing information and I shall post it on up coming blogs.
Andrew C. Allen 6/21/13
513.638.7140
pewabic34@gmail.com
   
   

The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America

     The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Vol. 85:1, March 1991 (ISSN 0006-128x) was a rich source of information about Charles Cist. A special thanks to Mr. William S. Peterson, editor, and Mr. Boyd Childress who wrote the article about Mr. Cist, pages 72-81.

Charles Cist, Philadelphia Printer

Boyd Childress

     The German press in Pennsylvania, indeed with its Sowers and their large establishment, its bruderschaft of the Ephrata Monastery, its Armbruester, its Steiner, and a score more of intelligent printers, offers a phenomenon for reflection and study.1

     Noted printing historian Lawrence Wroth thus introduced German printers in the state of Pennsylvania in his now classic The Colonial Printer. Among Wroth's "score more" was Charles Cist, who operated a printing business in Philadelphia from the early revolutionary period into the nineteenth century. While his printing output was modest when compared to contemporary Philadelphians Matthew Cary, Benjamin Franklin Bache, David Hall, or Francis Bailey, Cist printed both in English and German and was considerable factor in the history of printing in Philadelphia during his career. While the history of printing in the then-largest city in America has been well documented in various sources, there seems to be very little accurate biographical information on Cist and his printing. His entry in the Dictionary of American Biography 2  is both incomplete and inaccurate, and this brief sketch attempts to make use of additional primary material to supplement what we know about Cist and correct the DAB entry , which has found its way into other secondary biographical compilations, as well as scholarly historical research.

     Charles Cist was born on 15 August 1738, in St. Petersburg, Russia.3 His education was extensive, including training in pharmacy and a medical degree from the University at Halle. With this background in the healing arts, Cist emigrated to the American colonies in 1769. Cist landed first in New York  but settled immediately in Philadelphia. According to William McCulloch, who provided a significant addendum to Thomas' History of Printing in America  "Cist tried many an earnest endeavor to discover the philosopher's stone" before he finally turned his attention to printing.4 Cist's name was a derivative of his given Russian name Carl Jacob Sigismund Thiel. With his new name, he first entered printing as a translator for the German printer Henry Miller.

     In Philadelphia, he joined a sizable German community in a city of over 25,000, and after learning his new trade rapidly, Cist entered partnership with Melchior Steiner (or Styner), a native of Switzerland, in 1775. For the next six years, the firm printed  fewer than fifty titles, but we do know from the records of the Pennsylvania colonial legislature that the two did considerable public printing. For example, Steiner and Cist were paid L 175 for "printing" in October 1777, the second year of their partnership. For the fall of 1780, the firm earned slightly less than L10,000 for public printing.5 The legislative council approved various payments for services provided on an inconsistent basis, and these payments present bills presented over an extended period of time. The  last entry for Steiner and Cist came in December of 1782, over a year after the partnership dissolved. The firm also did considerable printing work for the Continental Congress. As early as 1776 they were paid $130 for providing paper and printing Congressional minutes-the paper was for loan office notes, and the minutes, yet unpublished, were bought by fellow-printer Robert Aiken. In 1777, Steiner and Cist were paid for printing 1,000 copies of a German-language revolutionary address to New Yorkers (Evans 15471). A unique episode in 1779 centered on an over payment for printing 1,300 copies of Observations on the American Revolution (Evans 16625), a propaganda document intended to support the colonial war effort. The journals of Congress record a payment of nearly $3,000 to Steiner and Cist in April, but a three-member committee was appointed the next month to investigate the possible over payment and the warrant was stopped. In June, the committee reported  back to Congress and the account was settled for $971. A final example of Steiner and Cist's Congressional printing was a $200 payment in November  of 1779.6 Nevertheless, the success of the firm of Steiner and Cist (or any printer, for that matter) cannot be measured by the record of its imprints. Indeed, printers such as Cist derived the majority of their income from peripheral or job printing, such as public printing and the sale of paper.

     When Cist and Steiner first established their business, they were housed on Second Street near Arch Street, in the immediate proximity of most of the city's other printers. In late 1778, business had improved enough so they could move a block south on Second to the corner at Race Street.7 The most prominent (and profitable) of their imprints was Thomas Paine's The American Crisis (Evans 14953), printed in 1776 both in English and German (Evans 14963). The following year the firm printed the next three parts of Paine's political treatise. Steiner and Cist  also printed an annual German language almanac beginning in 1779, a practice Cist continued until his death; Steiner likewise printed an almanac until 1797. Another printing staple was the newspaper , which the two published in partnership. Both Cist and Steiner published their own separate newspaper after the partnership dissolved. These were also German-language ventures.

     Cist and Steiner dissolved their partnership in early 1781. McCulloch contends Steiner's laziness, negligence, and indifference led to their breakup. McCulloch also said Steiner had a drinking problem. While Cist  remained in business under his name only, Steiner  entered into another joint operation with Heinrich Kammerer, printing and selling books almost exclusively in German. While Steiner and Cist existed, it printed forty-seven separate titles; of these, fifteen (32 percent) were in German.8 Cist used this experience to launch the remainder of his successful printing career. 

     Cist moved his operation to Market Street when he and Steiner parted ways and stayed there until 1784, when he moved to the corner of Fourth and Arch Streets. In 1787, he was operating on Race Street, between Front and Second Streets. After 1791, he settled 104 Second  Street near the corner of Race. These moves do not represent significant changes: these were addresses where several of the city's printers had shops. They do show Cist  on the move for the best location for his business.

     Cist married in 1781 and had two sons. Charles Cist, the elder, was an author and later, editor in Cincinnati, were he gained some literary notoriety. Another son Jacob, entered his father's printing business; worked in a shop his father established in the new Washington City  after 1800; and finally settled in Wilkes-Barre as a postmaster, a position he held for most of the rest of his life. Jacob, an amateur naturalist, also got involved in a mining venture as his father had.

     After the dissolution of his partnership with Steiner, Cist's book printing work increased. He printed Americanischer-Stadt und Land Calendar from 1782 until his death in 1805. His wife supervised the printing of the almanac in 1806. In 1806, the volume was published annually until 1860, a complete run of seventy-eight years. He seems to have been involved in publishing several German-language newspapers, although none on a regular basis. In 1786, he was one of several Philadelphians, including Matthew Cary, Thomas Sedden, William Spotswood, and James Trenchard, who sponsored the Colombian Magazine (Evans 21007), a short-lived effort.9 Cist also printed at least one issue of a newspaper in Washington in 1800. It, too, was a failure. Evidence attests to his reputation as a printer, as do the remarks of at least two contemporary printers. Isaiah Thomas notes, "Cist pursued it {printing} prudently, and acquired considerable property." McCulloch concludes, "Cist acquired property by marriage, and increased it by industry." In his printing history, Douglas McMurtrie makes occasional mention of Cist.10 But the highest praise of Cist's printing is from the federal Congress, noted Federalist Timothy Pickering, and prominent lexicographer Noah Webster. In the fall of 1785, Congress seriously considered Cist's proposal for printing the body's journals.

     1. Lawrence C. Wroth, The Colonial Printer (Charlottesville: Dominion Books, 1964), pp. 261-62.

     2. Reginald C. McGrave, "Cist, Charles," Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Scribners, 1930), II, 108.

     3. "Cist," DAB.

___________________________________________________________________

Boyd Childress (Librarian III, Auburn University  Library , Auburn University , Ala. 36849-5606) is a History Bibliographer and Reference Librarian at Auburn University.

PBSA 85:1 (1991), pp. 72-81.

I have copied from the pages of this article and here are my additional notes to help fill in the blanks. When the article discusses Charles Cist's move to different locations in Philadelphia he was establishing friends and a network of business connections. For example, if this would help the scholarly community to know that Charles Cist eldest son Charles (Edward) Cist moved to Cincinnati and settled in College Hill, a suburb of Cincinnati. There is a family connection to the Cary family of College Hill. It is my connection that Matthew Cary had family and with the elder Cist moved to Cincinnati together. This was in part due to the printing connection in Philadelphia. The slogan "Go West Young Man" might have been a factor. The Cary sisters were prolific poets in Cincinnati.

Furthermore, the reference to Mr. Cist second son, Jacob, is only half his name. Lewis Jacob Cist was his full name. He also had one of the best autograph collections in the world at the time of his death. On reason why he held postmaster in Wilkes-Barre was to mail out autograph request, or some how get his target to respond to him, and he would be right there in the post office to collect his new autograph. The auction catalog of his collection is now a collector's item. An additional note, his brother Henry M. Cist, a well-documented Brigid er General of the Civil War and author of The Army of the Cumberland, painstakingly hand wrote the dollar amounts of each autograph that was sold. The auction took two days. His notes are in the bloggers private collection.

Finally, when the article talks about Mr. Cist getting married in 1781. He married Mary Weiss, the daughter of one of George Washington's commanders, General Jacob Weiss. This is his connection to getting printing contacts with the newly formed Continental Congress. On an upcoming blog, I can upload a Continental Congress dollar bill signed by Charles Cist.
Andrew C. Allen 6/20/13
513.638.7140
pewabic34@gmail.com

Wayne State University Find

     My last visit to Wayne State University at the Purdy/ Kresge library was a very positive experience. The librarians there are very supportive of scholarly work and encourage the use of library equipment. They even took time to listen to my research and viewed this blog. Numerous avenues were found pertaining to the life of Charles Cist. I can tell my father new information about his life in USA that no one in the family  knew about. There is a journal of hot air balloon rides that is in the rare book archives at Indian University, I found documentation of financial records of Cist and Steiner, information about a loosely knit network of early colonial printers formed by Benjamin Franklin, papers 1776-1805 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania -Johann Friedrich Ernst, 1748-1805).
     Mr. Boyd Childress wrote a fantastic article in the Bibliographical Society of America. I need to arrange the material to correlate with my blog. His information will be in future blogs.
     Part of my blogging experience is to update my reference skills by reviewing the APA reference- sixth edition and the MLA references- seventh edition. It is helpful to do as much work as possible before you go to the library just because other scholars want to use the same equipment.

Andrew C. Allen / June 13, 2013
513.638.7140
pewabic34@gmail.com