Fred C. Laird, Chicago
Laird & Lee, Chicago

Laird & Lee was established in late 1886/ early 1887 by Fred C. Laird and William Henry Lee (-1913). Laird published on his namesake imprint of Fred C. Laird in 1886. A number of references cite 1883 as the founding date of the company. Contemporaneous periodicals from the 1880's note 1886/1887 as the establishment date.

No details about Laird's life are known.

William H. Lee was this nation’s first black publisher. Details of Lee's life come from Fred Laird's recollections at the time of Lee's Death. Lee's mother was a slave and his father was a white man. During the Civil War Lee was a valet for a confederate general. Later he was a waiter in St. Louis. He came to Chicago in the early 1880's as a well educated man who spoke several languages. How he ended up joining Laird in the book business is not known.

Lee died intestate with an estate of $200,000 which was sought after by many pseudo-relatives. He was not married and there were no known relatives.

The partnership between Laird and Lee was dissolved in 1894 by mutual consent when Laird retired.
Lee bought out the interests of Laird for $75,000 (over two million dollars in 2020 dollars). (This amount comes from contemporaneous newspaper accounts. Some reference books note that the amount was closer to $60,000.)

1899 Advertising cover

Laird & Lee published several very popular paperback series including "Our Pastime Series", "Library of Choice Fiction", "Library of Realistic Fiction" and the "Pinkerton Detective Series". This firm was also known for its dictionaries and being the publisher of Opie Read.