Henry Altemus Company

Altemus Bibles

Certainly photographic albums were the mainstay of the publications on the Altemus imprint in the 1860's and 1870's. This imprint, Altemus & Co., appeared on scrapbooks and Altemus' Bibles in the 1870's. These latter Bibles are distinctly rare and were issued in a very different style than the Bibles on the Henry Altemus imprint that were published beginning in 1884. (See picture below). The covers of the earlier Bibles (pre-1884) were similar to the ornate covers of the photographic albums-only larger (See picture B59). The title page is also quite different and is seen below alongside the Henry Altemus Bible title pages and the A.J. Holman title pages.

Unfortunately, as with their later reprint books, it seems that the later Altemus Bibles (1884 and later) were not designed from original thought but were rather close copies of the Bibles published by A.J. Holman & Company. This is despite the fact that Henry Altemus had been a prolific binder of the Bibles of Harper Brothers, E.H. Butler & Co. and other publishers earlier in his career.

A brief pre-Altemus Bible publisher history

Jesper Harding, a Philadelphia publisher founded the firm of the same name in 1829. It was at one time the largest Bible publisher in the United States. He succeeded two earlier Bible publishers: Kimber, Conrad and Company and Kimber and Sharpless. Jesper Harding published Bibles and beginning in 1830 The Philadelphia Inquirer.

In 1853 Captain J. Parker Martin joined the firm as head of Bible production and a couple of years later William W. Harding, Jesper's son, also entered the company. A.J. Holman was employed by Jesper Harding as a superintendent of the manufacture and sales of Bibles.

In 1855 the firm was renamed Jesper Harding & Son reflecting the entry of William into the Company. In 1859 Jesper retired and the firm was renamed William W. Harding.

In 1872 George Lare, A.J. Holman and Captain J. Parker Martin started a new firm, A.J. Holman & Company. This firm was to specialize in the production of Bibles and Photographic Albums- both also specialties of the firm of William W. Harding. Harding remained in business competing with the new firm until he sold out in 1878 to Burk and McFetridge.

In 1883 J. Parker Martin left the A.J. Holman partnership and joined Henry Altemus as manager of their Bible Department. Henry Altemus published their first Bibles in the new style and formats that were brought over by Captain Parker in 1884. There is an incredible similarity between the Holman and Altemus Bibles. This can be seen not only in the oversized elaborate books and covers themselves but also by their title pages.

Two Holman title pages are shown below. One is from 1872 and the other from 1879. Both published while Captain Martin headed up the Bible department at Holman and well before Altemus published their first Bible under his stewardship in 1884. Note the emblem and the saying within it "Let There Be Light”. Now look at the emblems on the Altemus Bibles from 1884 and 1893 with the expression "And There Was Light”. The likeness is startling and can only mean that Captain Martin used a very similar approach (if not exact) when he began publishing Altemus Bibles. This is even more obvious when the pre-Martin title page of an 1873 Altemus Bible is compared.

1872 Titlepage

1873 Titlepage

1879 Titlepage

1884 Titlepage

1893 Titlepage

Thus, Henry Altemus as a publisher clearly copied in form and substance the A.J. Holman Bibles. Altemus published Bibles until 1896. At that time the listings of Bibles disappeared from their catalogues.

The Bibles

In 1884 Altemus published their first Bibles with Captain Martin . The plates for these books came from London. Also in 1884 Altemus added the Philadelphia Bible Warehouse to its moniker and its catalogues. Until 1896 Bible listings were prominently displayed in its catalogues . Thereafter, no Bibles were ever noted in the catalogues and Altemus stopped production on their own imprint.

In the 1890's Altemus also published an “Altemus' Edition” Bible for other publishers. The title page in these books is identical to the Altemus Bibles with the exception of the imprint which notes the other publisher.

An example of the importance of Bibles to Altemus can be seen by looking at the eighteen pages of Bible ads in the 1890 catalogue. Numerous styles are advertised including Pulpit Bibles, Illustrated Fine Editions, Cheap Pictorial Editions, New Popular Editions etc. Prices ranged from $1.50 to $32.50 for a New Imperial Quarto Bible with Levant Morocco and a fine engraved clasp. From Levant Morocco to plain cloth the variety is quite impressive. And of course the covers within the cloth and different morocco styles are unbelievably varied. The catalogues listed these books with various numbers for ordering ease. By my count there were 59 different cover styles over the years.

Over the years there were 12 different Bible editions (styles or formats). Each edition varied in content . Some had a Bible Dictionary, others had notes and commentary from well known theologians. The exact content of each edition is outlined below. What is of note is that the same covers were used throughout all the editions. Sometimes with rounded edges, sometimes with fancier gilt or morocco but the same covers nonetheless. Each Bible came in two styles. One with a "fine nickel clasp" and one without. Some styles were also "adapted for inserting family photographs". These Bibles were slightly more expensive.

Bible format controversy:

Remembering that the head of the Altemus Bible department, Captain J. Parker Martin,was formerly in charge of A.J. Holman's Bible production, it is not surprising that there were hard feelings. In October 1887 this animosity broke out in the pages of Publishers' Weekly. In a letter Henry Altemus claimed that Holman was using certain Altemus' Bible bindings. Holman retorted with a denial. Altemus followed up stating again that Holman appropriated Altemus binding designs. The last word was in a Holman letter stating that the binding was introduced prior to Altemus' claims. Clearly no love lost between the two companies.

Altemus Bible ads

In the 1880s and 1890s publishers had few reasonable options for advertising their wares. The most commonly used site were in trade journals. Altemus' Bible ads mirrored the Bible's importance to Altemus. Most of these ads are noted between 1884 and 1892. Thereafter, as other books became more important, very few Altemus Bible ads are seen. A sampling of ads is below.

1884	1885	1886	1886
1887	1888	1889	1890
1891	1892	1892

The Altemus Bible Formats:

Between 1884 and 1896 Henry Altemus published twelve different Bible Series. Although the same 59 covers were dispersed among all the series, the series differed in content. There were a total of 10 possible features included in these Bibles. The series and their descriptions are below. All of the Bible covers as well as what years what covers were seen in the various series are also listed.

1. Old and New Testament
2. Dore Illustrations
3. Marriage Certificate and Family Registration

I have seen three different examples of these pages. There does not appear to be any significant pattern in regards to which Bibles which sets are placed in.

4. Revised Version Appended
5. Apocrypha, Concordance, Psalms on Metre
6. Smith's Dictionary
7. Bible History and Analysis
8. Cyclopedia of the Bible
9. Dictionary of Names
10. Notes and commentary by Rev. Walter McGilvray

Below are the described series. Also noted are the covers that made up the series.

Each of the Bibles in all the series were published in two styles: with and without a nickel metal clasp.

B1	B2	B3	B4
B5	B6	B7	B8
B9	B10	B11	B12
B13	B14	B15	B16
B17	B18	B19	B20
B21	B22	B23	B24
B25	B26	B27	B28
B29	B30	B31	B32
B33	B34	B35	B36
B37	B38	B39	B40
B41	B42	B43	B44
B45	B46	B47	B48
B49	B50	B51	B52
B53	B54	B55	B56
B57	B58	B59

Type styles

Certain types were used with certain Bible Series. Some of the known examples of type are shown below with their corresponding series.

Series #1, 2, 3, 4, 6	Series #5, 8
Series #10	Series #11, 12