Henry Altemus Company

Jacob Abbott and Altemus

Between 1848 and 1861 32 biographical histories "the Makers of History" Series were published by Harper and Brothers. 22 of these were written by Jacob Abbott while the remaining ten were written by his brother, John S.C. Abbott. Henry Altemus as well as numerous other publishers reprinted these works between the late 1890's and the early part of the 20th century.

Altemus published 18 of the 32 in three different series. First they were published in Series #35 Abbott's Historical Series (1900). Shortly thereafter they were included in Series #202-Formats 2 and 3 - The Young People's Library. Finally in 1911 they were used in Series #170 Stories from History Series.

The Altemus Abbott books all used the same same plates and had the same illustrations. But they misidentified the author in several books. Frequently these books were all attributed to Jacob Abbott even though John S.C. Abbott wrote his fair share. Some later reprint series noted Jacob Abbott as the author of all 32 books. Altemus does credit John S.C. Abbott as the author of Marie Antoinette but as can be seen below Altemus states Jacob Abbott wrote the other 17 biographies.

In fact, John S.C. Abbott wrote Hernando Cortez, Josephine, Madame Roland as well as the Antoinette book.

Favorite Series

This series of fiction/fairy tale books was published in two formats between 1901 and 1907. The first format which has either horizontal or vertical lines surrounding an applique has been thought to have only 18 books. The series is advertised with an 18 volume book list and each of the books has an advertisement for the series on the back of the title page with the same 18 books. On the top of the title page each book says Altemus' Favorite Series.

Imagine my surprise when the book below was found. It has the characteristic cover, title page and advertisement page for the Favorite Series. One problem however exists. It is never listed in any advertisement for the series-not in the book ads, Altemus catalogues or other book seller catalogues.

I am adding this book as #19 to the series but it just goes to show that there are many surprises even in areas where there should be none.

Mary Godolphin and Altemus

Lucy Aikin (1781-1864) wrote a number of one syllable versions of well known classic books. These were published under the Mary Godolphin pseudonym. Several of these books were copied without attribution by Henry Altemus for inclusion within some of its series. The adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, Aesop's fables and The Pilgrim's Progress are the titles appropriated by Altemus.

The illustrations are not the same but the text is identical. The Altemus books can be found in The Young People's Library (#202), One Syllable Series (#137), Favorite Series (#86/#87), Boys and Girls' Classics Series (#57), Ever New Books for Young People (#82).

The Godolphin authored books were published many times by countless publishers. The original editions were published in the late 1860's by Routledge. Thereafter, reprints were done by Cassell, McLoughlin, Monarch, Hurst, A.L. Burt, Saalfield, and many more. A number of publishers reprinted these stories without using the author's name - i.e. Altemus.

Altemus published several other "One Syllable" titles not written by Godolphin. I suspect that they "borrowed" those books as well. In the 1890's Cassell published a one syllable series that included the Godolphin books as well as Gulliver's Travels. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks I will be able to review this book.

Examples of a Robinson Crusoe and an Aesop's Fables book are shown below.

One Syllable Series

The 8 books that make up Format 1 have been seen with a characteristic early spine pattern. See: http://henryaltemus.com/series/series137.htm. Until now it appeared that the pattern was absolute for early books in this format. Now a new spine decoration has been discovered. It is unclear whether it predates or post dates the other spine. What is clear is that it is much scarcer than the usual pattern seen. Here is an example of the more common spine (pattern divided in two) with the newly discovered rare spine pattern (continuous). It is my suspicion that the newly discovered pattern is the earlier one but this is not based on any real data.)

Vademecum Series (later numbering)

This book has an applique which is from an Alphonse Mucha painting called Summer. Originally it was part of a set of paintings called The Seasons Series. With the discovery of this painting three of the four "Seasons" have been seen as appliques on this 1901 Vademecum Series book. The other pictures are also shown below.

Conversational Dictionaries

In the bibliography these books are listed with anonymous authors. These books were edited by Richard Jaschke.

Record Album

A phonograph album published by Altemus has been discovered.

The album pictured below has 12 numbered pages each with a slot for a record. It is not dated and there are no clues as to the publication date.

On the back of the cover the Henry Altemus Co. name above the word Philadelphia is noted.

I assume it was published sometime in the 1920's but this is a guess.

Altemus book bindery

In the early years of Altemus & Company the main order of business was as a book bindery. Examples of early work however are hard to find.

Here is an 1850 example. This book published by E. H. Butler & Co. cites Mr. Altemus as the executor of the embellished binding.

Scrapbooks

Altemus & Co. published mainly Bibles and photographic albums between 1863 and 1892. They also produced blank books, collection books, ledgers etc. Apparently scrapbooks were also part of the publishing inventory in these years. This particular one was copyrighted in 1874.

Non Series #58

Altemus, Bobby Burnit and false advertising.

In 1908 Altemus published Get Rich Quick Wallingford by George Randolph Chester (Non Series #58). George Randolph Chester (1869-1924) was an author, playright and actor. This book was the first of a series of three books about a con man and the only one published by Henry Altemus.

Inspired by the success of the book Altemus planned to publish his next book. The Making of Bobby Burnit. On February 27, 1909 this advertisement appeared in Publishers' Weekly.

This title was never mentioned again in any of the Altemus catalogues or in any other Henry Altemus book trade advertisement. Of course, there have been examples of other titles noted in book ads that were never published by the advertising company.

Without any mention in any book trade journals, Bobbs Merrill Company published The Making of Bobby Burnit in June, 1909.