Lemuel W. Bangs was ‘thoroughly American by birth and taste. At Scribner’s he was known as “Bangsy”; the British called him “The Senator” and loved him.’ This description from Roger Burlingame, insider historian of Scribner’s publishing house and son of Edward L. Burlingame, is one of the few mentions in book history of the colourful figure of Scribner's London representative. It highlights the mediating role played by Lemuel Bangs: situated within two different cultures, he translated business practices and negotiated the competing interests of publishers, agents and authors on both sides on the Atlantic. Although he has received little scholarly attention, his many letters, held in the Scribner's Archive at Princeton, provide insights into the day-to-day business operations of an established firm of magazine and book publishers. The negotiations, resolutions of copyright conflicts, talentspotting, gatekeeping and book promoting practices of Lemuel Bangs reveal the nature of an increasingly demanding transatlantic market. Less personally invested in Stevenson than others in this study, Bangs nevertheless played his part in the battles of representation and possession carried out over the author. In securing publication of Stevenson's work for his firm, Bangs had to navigate the complicated network of Stevensonian surrogates and advocates in London and New York. These dealings demonstrate the broader prosthetic functions demanded by the changing world of 1890s publishing in a transatlantic context. Amidst fluctuations created by copyright law, new relations between publishers, writers and their representatives and a market imperative to identify new readerships, Bangs served as a linchpin. Presenting a version of British culture to his employers while acting as the voice of Scribner's in London, his role demanded flexibility and the capacity to speak on behalf of different interests. He had to appear responsive to literary diversity but also project an impression of cultural unity. The success of Lemuel Bangs in playing these complicated parts appears due to a distinctive combination of flamboyant personal charisma and the solid loyalty with which he served his employers over many years.

‘Even in their own house histories,’ notes Christopher Wilson, ‘the actual inner workings of quality magazine offices remain obscure. As in book publishing and newspapermaking, what memoirs exist are clouded by the various motives of eulogy and self-promotion.’ The position of Bangs, a conduit between different countries, agents and interests in the publishing process, has kept his story equally obscure.