Fields, James Thomas

James Thomas (1817-1881), an American publisher, editor, and author. He was born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1834 he went to Boston, where a few years later he became junior partner in the firm of Ticknor, Reed, and Fields. Later this firm was changed to Ticknor and Fields and again to Fields and Osgood. He was editor of the Atlantic Monthly from 1861 until 1871. His published books include two volumes of poems, and several prose works, of which the best known are Yesterdays with Authors, In and Out of Doors with Dickens, Under brush, Barry Cornwall and Some of His Friends. Mr. Fields was a successful lecturer and was the author of many essays and critical reviews, not published in book form. Much of what is best in American literature has reached the public through Mr. Fields as publisher. Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter was one of the books whose beauty and power Mr. Fields was the first to perceive. The author believed its somber character would be a hindrance, and had little hope of success. Mr. Fields insisted on its publication. To the soundness of his judgment, the fact that five thousand copies, the entire first edition, were sold within two weeks sufficiently testifies.