19th Century Juvenile Series

Chatterbox

Published by R. Worthington/ Worthington Co.

Chatterbox was first published December 1, 1866 in England. Originated by James Johnstone and edited by Rev. John Erskine Clarke (1827-1920) who was the editor until 1902, it started as a weekly consisting of puzzles, vignettes, pictures etc. Initially the yearly bound volumes were just collated weeklies.

Estes and Lauriat (along with its successor Dana Estes & Co) published its first Chatterbox in 1878. These firms published the English edition of the Chatterbox far longer than any other publishing house. Dana Estes & Co. produced copies into the teens.

In 1879 Estes and Lauriat was given the right by the English owner to reprint the Chatterbox in America. James Johnston assigned Estes and Lauriat the right to the Chatterbox name for a ten year term beginning in 1880. In 1884 the agreement was modified to allow the Chatterbox name as long as it paid Johnston $1000 yearly.

The Chatterbox style of books were incredibly popular and huge best sellers. A number of firms published books with the "Chatterbox" in the name.
Estes & Lauriat attempted to enjoin other publishers from printing the English Chatterbox as well as any other books that contained the Chatterbox name in the title.

Worthington published Chatterboxes beginning in 1878 with similar but different content from the other firms' Chatterboxes.

In regards to the Estes & Lauriat lawsuits R. Worthington noted in advertisements in 1886 that the judge had not granted an injunction against any of the Worthington Chatterboxes. This disclaimer was short-lived since on November 30, 1886 the court decided to issue a preliminary injunction against the sale of the following Chatterboxes:
Baby Chatterbox
Sunday Chatterbox
Golden Chatterbox
Chatterbox Junior
Chatterbox Picture-Book
The court used the deception theory for their conclusion.

The Restraining order did not apply to:
Royal Chatterbox
Chatterbox Quartette
New Chatterbox Quartette
Chatterbox Stories of Natural History
Chatterbox Hall

Previously Worthington had published a number of other Chatterboxes. Since these books were no longer published, they weren't at issue in the lawsuit.
American Chatterbox
Chatterbox Book of Birds
Chatterbox Sunday
Young Folks' Chatterbox
Little Chatterbox

In the spring of 1887 a permanent injunction against all the Worthington books that had Chatterbox in the title was granted.

Below is a list of all the R. Worthington and Worthington Co. Chatterboxes. Confirmed dates that they were issued follows the title. Representative pictures are shown below.

American Chatterbox 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885

Baby Chatterbox 1880, 1882, 1883

Chatterbox 1878, 1883

Chatterbox Book of Birds 1881, 1882, 1883

Chatterbox Hall 1884

Chatterbox Junior 1878, 1879, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1887

Chatterbox Stories of Natural History 1880, 1881, 1883

Chatterbox Picture-Book 1879, 1883

Chatterbox Quartette 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883

Chatterbox Sunday 1880, 1881, 1883

Genuine Chatterbox 1881

Golden Chatterbox 1885, 1887