Q&A with Craig S. Smith, Author of The Juvenile Instructor Office November 25 2025
Greg Kofford Books recently talked to Craig S. Smith, author of The Juvenile Instructor Office: The Growth of Specialized Publishing in Utah in the 1880s, about his new book.
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Q. What initially drew your attention to the Juvenile Instructor Office specifically, leading you to dedicate a book to its history and bibliography, given that other histories often "fail to even mention the imprint"?
A. I have been collecting Utah and Mormon related books for almost 40 years and as part of this collecting I noticed that many of the books published in the late nineteenth century were produced by the Juvenile Instructor Office. I then started acquiring all I could find. After amassing a large number, I started making lists and scans of the collection, which eventually led to further research at libraries to document what I didn’t have.
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Q. Your book covers a pivotal time when the quantity and diversity of LDS Church materials printed in Salt Lake City "surpassed that of Liverpool." What single publication do you believe was the most symbolic of this power shift in Mormon publishing?
A. I think the book that best represents this shift to Salt Lake City is not actually a single book, but a series: The Faith Promoting Series. Books in this series were some of the first printed when the Juvenile Instructor Office turned to book publishing in 1879 and marks a switch from just publishing standard works and missionary books, as was the case in Liverpool, to producing a “home” literature for young Latter-day Saints to counter the onslaught of huge quantities of materials from the East that did not represent the values of the Latter-day Saints.
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Q. The transition of the company's control from George C. Lambert to George Q. Cannon's son, Abraham H. Cannon, was controversial, involving a disputed financial settlement and rumors of GQC using a mission call to move his son into the role. In your analysis, what was the most significant factor in GQC's decision?
A. If GQC actually had Lambert sent on a mission so that he could replace him with his son Abraham in the management of the Juvenile Instructor Office, he was probably motivated in that he wanted his responsible and obedient son in the family business where he would be close at hand to take care of anything that came up. GQC constantly insisted on Abraham’s help on many business and personnel activities and issues. GQC probably wanted Abraham to follow in his legacy as evident by Abraham’s later appointment to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. Abraham excelled at all his assignments. Unfortunately, Abraham died in 1896 at the age of 37 years.
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Q. The bibliography meticulously documents various binding motifs, such as "standard floral border Motif 1". Did you uncover evidence suggesting a hierarchy or specific purpose for the different binding styles (e.g., Motif 1 vs. Motif 2) beyond mere aesthetic variation?
A. The standard floral border Motif 1 was probably the original blind stamping binding design of the two for the Faith Promoting Series and the other publications of similar small size and design. All of the Faith Promoting Series printed by the Juvenile Instructor Office and the other small publications had at least the Motif 1 binding, while Motif 2 only occurred on some of the titles starting about 1882. For those titles with the Motif 2 binding, examples also exist with the Motif 1 binding. Apparently, they were all originally bound with the Motif 1 binding and then the remaining unbound pages of some titles were later bound with the Motif 2 bindings. A couple of the very early publications from mostly 1879 and 1880 also had other variant bindings in addition to Motif 1 bindings. These early titles were probably bound before the Juvenile Instructor Office adapted Motif 1 as the standard binding.
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Q. What, in your opinion, was the most unexpected or surprising discovery you made while researching the neglected late-nineteenth-century printing history of Utah?
A. One of the surprising discoveries concerns a book that was not actually printed by the Juvenile Instructor Office, though it includes the imprint of “A. H. Cannon, Ogden, Utah” on the title page. The book is the New Testament published by John E. Potter and Company, Philadelphia [1885-1889] with the publisher adding the A. H. Cannon imprint to the title page. The front pastedown of the examined copy also contains a “Juvenile Instructor Stationary and Publishing House, Salt Lake City, Utah” sticker, indicating that someone originally bought the copy at the Salt Lake City store. Apparently, Abraham ordered bibles from Eastern publishers and had his imprint added, so not all books sold at his stores with his imprint were printed by the Juvenile Instructor Office.
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Q. The Juvenile Instructor Office printed works for other publishers, such as The Story of the Book of Mormon for Joseph Hyrum Parry. What does this "contract work" reveal about the state of the printing industry and the Juvenile Instructor Office's market position?
A. The Juvenile Instructor Office as claimed by Abraham had some of the best printing capabilities in the West so several publishers hired them to print their publications, especially in the later part of the 1880s. Their competition was probably the Deseret News Press, but it appears that the Juvenile Instructor Office did more of the larger contract printing jobs.
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Q. The magazine consistently editorialized against "novelettes and illustrated papers containing tales of fiction". How successful do you believe the Juvenile Instructor Office truly was in providing a "wholesome alternative" and countering the influx of eastern literature?
A. I think the Juvenile Instructor Office was quite successful in providing the Latter-day Saint population with a wholesome “home” literature alternative. Large quantiles of this material can still be found throughout Utah indicating that many households at the time acquired them, though it is hard to know how much of them were actually read. The Juvenile Instructor Office advertised quite heavily in newspapers and visiting LDS Church authorities often encouraged their purchase along with the magazine in ward and stake meetings. The LDS Church promoting these materials probably greatly increased their use.
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Q. The creation of the permanent Juvenile Instructor Office building was precipitated by George C. Lambert assuming financial responsibility of the struggling business. Was this move the primary catalyst for the immediate expansion into book and specialized material publishing?
A. Though Lambert was in charge of the Juvenile Instructor Office at the time, I am sure GQC was quite involved as the building was built on a corner of his property on South Temple, which allowed moving most of the printing equipment from his house into the new facilities. I think they built the building and added new state of the art printing equipment so that they could expand the business into publishing and printing of books.
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Q. The sheer volume of ephemeral materials, like catechism and Sunday School cards, seems challenging to document. What was the most difficult category of items to research and attribute to the Juvenile Instructor Office?
A. The Juvenile Instructor Office printed some of the missionary tracts, especially those by John Morgan (Doctrines of the Church and Plan of Salvation), several times over a number of years, resulting in several undated variants. It was difficult trying to locate, record, and date all the possible variants, some with only minor variation. I am sure I missed some. Also, the Juvenile Instructor Office printed roll books, class registers, report blanks, tickets, reward cards, and bible scenes for the Sunday School Union that were advertised in their catalogs. I could not locate an example of most of these ephemeral items.
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Q. Your book lays out the foundation of the Juvenile Instructor Office becoming the Deseret Book Company. What is the single greatest thread of continuity—be it in philosophy, publishing focus, or financial structure—that you trace from the 1880s operation to the modern company?
A. I really have not researched the Deseret Book Company, so am not sure how the modern publishing company compares with the Juvenile Instructor Office of the 1880s. The Juvenile Instructor Office was a private company with a close connection with the LDS Church. GQC sold the firm then known as “George Q. Cannon and Sons” to the LDS Church in 1900 a few months before his death in 1901. The resulting business owned by the LDS Church evidently evolved into Deseret Book in 1920. I think the Deseret Book Company continues the focus on literature that promotes the LDS faith.
The Juvenile Instructor Office: The Growth of Specialized Publishing in Utah in the 1880s is available in a quality full-color, Smyth-sewn hardcover.