The business was supported by a loan from their father to purchase two Rampage printing presses, some typesetting stock, and simple binding equipment.

Paul gave the order to his young apprentices, James and John, who did the printing, working with their younger brothers Joseph Wesley (December 25, 1801 – February 14, 1870)[3] and Fletcher (January 31, 1806 – May 29, 1877)[3] who aided in setting type, and issued it under the imprint J.

The work was published during a time of extreme anti-Catholicism in the United States and was used by politicians and anti-Catholic activists to seed discontent and incite riots.

Within eight years of the publication of Awful Disclosures, Harper was elected mayor of New York, running on a Know-Nothing, Nativist platform of anti-Catholicism and anti-immigration.

Following News Corporation's acquisition of Harper & Row in 1987, the company was merged with William Collins publishers in 1990, resulting in its current name, HarperCollins.

HarperCollins had sales of US$1,162 million in 2004 and employed over 3,000 people worldwide.In 1844, Harper was elected mayor of New York for a one-year term on the American Republican ticket, defeating Locofoco Party candidate Jonathan I. Coddington and Whig Morris Franklin.

In-fighting between the city alderman delayed the full implementation of the reform plan, and Harper could only select 200 men for the force before voters ousted him in April 1845.

He outfitted his "Harper's Police" in blue uniforms, which they felt made them targets of violence, and they lobbied successfully to wear street clothes.

His successor William Havemeyer continued to reform the police force, successfully expanded the workforce to 800, and began the establishment of station houses.

Harper banished free-roaming pigs from the streets of New York and began work on establishing a citywide sanitation system.