This comprehensive study ranges from Irving's Knickerbockers, Emerson's Transcendentalists, and Garrison's abolitionists to the popular serial fiction writers for Robert Bonner's New York Ledger to unearth surprising convergences between such seemingly disparate circles.

Introduction As Merchants on the 'Change': The Economy of Literary Coteries, 1807-1864 PART I: LITERARY NEW YORKERS 'An Instinct for Gold': Irving's Knickerbockers Staff Bonds: Bonner's New York Ledger PART II: NEW ENGLAND CIRCLES 'The Section to Which We Belong': Emerson's Transcendentalists Boston and Beyond: Elizabeth Peabody's Promotional Practice PART III: POLITICAL ECONOMY: NORTH AND SOUTH Print Warriors: Garrison's Abolitionists Proslavery and the Pen: Fitzhugh's Apologists Conclusion: The Boston Bellamy Club, Rand's Objectivists, and Iowa Writers' Workshop

DAVID DOWLING Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Iowa, USA. He is the author of Capital Letters: Authorship in the Antebellum Literary Market.