S.R. Urbino

Sampson R. Urbino (1818-1896) or S.R. Urbino was a German-born bookseller, publisher and library proprietor in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in foreign-language books.

Prior to bookselling, Urbino worked as a teacher in Boston. In the mid-1850s he bought "Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody's circulating library and book-store on West Street. He developed the library and also added German, French, and books in other foreign languages to his stock. He then ... began publishing the well-known series of Ahn's and Ollendorf's readers and grammars, and other text-books." The business operated from an office on Summer Street (ca.1856)Winter Street (ca.1857-1861)School Street (ca.1864-1865) and Bromfield Street (ca.1870).

Urbino sold part of his textbook enterprise "to Henry Holt & Co. shortly before retiring from business in 1865. He sold his business to De Vries, Ibarra & Co., to whom he also transferred the services of Mr. Carl Schoenhof and Miss Fanny Moeller."

He supported the Free Soil party; the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War; and the National Liberal League. He belonged to the American Association for the Promotion of Social Science. In 1889 "S.R. Urbino and 30 others" presented a petition to the Massachusetts House of Representatives asking for "legislation providing that one-third of the members of school committees in cities and towns shall be women."

Urbino lived in Roxbury and Newton, Massachusetts, and was married to Levina Buoncuore Urbino, a writer and translator.

...
Wikipedia