SEARS, Robert, publisher, born in St. John, New Brunswick, 28 June, 1810. His father was Thacher Sears, one of the loyalists of the Revolution. He served an apprenticeship in the printing business at St. John, and in 1832 emigrated to New York city, where he opened a small printing-office in Park row. In 1839 he began the publication of illustrated works, which were sold almost entirely by subscription. He was a liberal patron and friend of the earlier wood-engravers, did much to develop that art, , then in its infancy, and was one of the earliest pioneers in arousing and fostering that taste for pictorial representation which has grown to such large dimensions. He was also one of the first to recognize the value of judicious advertising. He expended many thousands of dollars in making his publications known throughout the United States, and in 1847 procured an extensive recognition of the merits of American wood-engraving from the British public by presenting a complete set of his publications to Queen Victoria and receiving her personal thanks for the same. Among his publications are "Illustrations of the Bible" (New York, 1840) ; "Bible Biography " (1843); "Wonders of the World " (1847); "Pictorim History of the United States," his most important work (1847); and "Description of the Russian Empire" (1854.)