A. C. McClurg

A. C. McClurg was a stationer, publisher, and book wholesaler for over 120 years in Chicago, Illinois. The business began in 1844 as Chicago's first stationery store and first retail bookstore',^[1] changing hands several times, often as the result of a fire. Alexander McClurg came into management of the business at the time of the Great Chicago Fire (1871) and established an interest in fine literature, which was pursued by the company until late in the first decade of the 20th century. While pursuing interests in fine English literature and the literary magazine, The Dial, perhaps one of the most historically important books published by McClurg's "Rare Books" section was W. E. B. Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk (1903).^[2]

About a decade after McClurg's death, the company shut down his Rare Books section of the business and pursued popular adventure. It was the original publisher of the Tarzan of the Apes novels and other stories by Chicago author Edgar Rice Burroughs, as well as the Tom Mix stories. While these books proved very successful, the business model eventually changed again, and from 1922 to 1962, A.C. McClurg was primarily a book wholesaler.