Q: can you tell me anything about this book, i think its the fifth edition, it has 107 pages and 1 illustration in the front and is it worth anything 4 3/8×2 7/8 suede i think. and is it worth anything?

A: Series #184 Waistcoat Pocket Series. This series (http://henryaltemus.com/series/series184.htm) of 10 books had three formats, the last of which is where this books belongs. Limp velvet with gold gilt script writing. All of the books originally came in a labeled box. An example of the box is shown here.

Unfortunately the titles are not very collectible and without the box the book has little value.

As an aside, this book was reprinted from an earlier edition and is not, in fact, the “fifth edition”.

I have two new pictures to add to this series. Sometimes when looking at Altemus book covers it must seem like an impossible task to sort them out and actually develop some coherent thoughts about them. So many seem to have various patterns, flowers, old artist pictures etc.

Only three series use the cover flowers as shown below. Series 127-Love and Friendship Series, #110- In His Name Series and the Petit Trianon Series (#143). There are only 16 flowers and it is presumed that each of the two formats that have flower covers in this series have each of the 16 represented.

In the Love and Friendship Series there are two formats that use these flowers. Format 2 has two variant covers. One in which the vellum pattern on the left is white and the other in which it is red. The latter is much more uncommon. As of this time I only have 4 out of 16.

Here are the cover pictures with the new ones just added to the database.

It is amazing to me that sellers list books about which they clearly know little or nothing hoping that the potential buyer knows as little as they do. But when you list books for $125 or best offer, a little research might work wonders.

All three of the books this seller has listed come from the Wee Folks Peter Rabbit Series (http://www.henryaltemus.com/series/series189.htm).

The first he lists is The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

He notes the print year as 1904-first edition thus. Now what about that term- “First edition thus”. Here is the definition:

First thus. First revised edition by the original publisher or the first printing by a different publisher. Note that the revision indicating a first thus state might consist of altered content in the text itself or an accompanying change such as a new introduction. A first thus may also be the first printing in paperback form, whether published by the same publisher or not.
(http://www.bookologist.com/cab/abu/y203/m07/bk0008/s03)

Of course, for this book the new revised edition does not equate to more valuable than even the earlier editions which are not worth $125.

Altemus changed the format of this Peter Rabbit book in 1917. It was at that time that all of the Wee Books had paste-on (applique covers). But from 1917 to 1921 all of the covers had yellow lettering. So this book at its earliest is a 1922 reprint. On the title page the copyright date of 1904 is stated. Of course, the copyright date is different here from the publication date.

In terms of price, look at this copy. Chewed up spine and shabby stained cover. Nominal value if any.

Here is his second Peter Rabbit book

He claims again a 1917 print date and first edition thus.

Unfortunately neither is true. The lettering is not yellow-relegating it to an after 1921 date and no new content or form from the 1917-1921 editions except for minor lettering changes.

Look at this copy. Again shabby spine and cover. Value-only nominal

Here is what the 1917-1921 copy looks like. Note the yellow lettering.

His third Peter Rabbit book is also dated incorrectly. The title Peter Rabbit and the Little Boy was first used in 1925. Between 1922 and 1925 the title of the book was Peter Rabbit, Jack-the-Jumper and the Little Boy. Not enough for a “first thus” and the condition merits only nominal value.

It is startling how some Ebayers hold themselves out as sellers of “rare antique first edition books” but then do not do the research necessary to give fair and accurate listings.

If lesson one for dating Altemus books is that Henry Altemus incorporated to become Henry Altemus Company in 1900, then lesson two is that no Altemus books were published for reading prior to 1889.

A caveat sent to me is that Bibles are not included in this rule. I guess I never expected someone to say that they thought the Bible was a reading book but I will stand corrected.

Here is an example for rule #2. An Ebay seller lists this book.

1851 The Snow Image And Other Twice Told Tales
The Snow Image And Other Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne.Illustrated.Published by Henry Altemus Company.No copyright date but there is a preface to book dated November 1st,1851..

Now the reality is that this book is a post 1900 edition (Henry Altemus Company not Henry Altemus) from the Riviere Series (http://henryaltemus.com/series/series158.htm) published in 1901. But the major mistake the seller makes is dating the book based on the preface. Altemus as well as other reprint publishers reproduced the book in toto- everything was reprinted including the dated preface.

You just cannot use the preface for dating an Altemus book. Mistakes on the Altemus Hawthorne books are relatively common.

I have included a couple of listings from ABE just for laughs. Again the uniformed sellers date their books based on the preface dating. I find this more troubling than the Ebay listings because at least the Ebay listings have pictures which these do not. Also I like to think that the ABE sellers are more experienced and knowledgeable–I guess not!! Note that the sellers have 5 star ratings!!

Scarlet Letter: A Romance
Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Bookseller Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Price: US $28.00
Book Description: Henry Altemus, Philadelphia, 1850. Hard Cover. Book 16mo – Second Edition. Water damage front bottom corner. Tanning. Soiled. Binding good. 1893 on title page. Preface to the Second Edition by author dated 1850.

The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne; Introduction-William Lyon Phelps
Bookseller: Redux Books
(Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.)
Bookseller Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Book Description: Henry Altemus, 1850. Hardcover. Book Condition: Used:
Below is an example of an Altemus Scarlet Letter’s preface.

Q: Hello-
I have a copy of copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s , A Wonder Book – publisher Henry Altemus Company.  There is no publishing date but an inscription and date: Margaret Waggener, “Xmas 1894” with additional date 1904.
 
The cover is grey cloth, with two short inset columns ( top right and left sides) with daffodils in yellow and red.  In between the columns is a very ornate design that has worn off the yellow coloring.
 
Can you give me any history information?  Do you know what it’s value would be?

A: This is another publisher’s series book. This is a 1905-1906 Vademecum Series title. The books of this series are perhaps the most common of all publisher’s series books and this is one of the most commonly found covers (years).

The cover has been seen in a number of colors and 4 different applique flowers have been seen.

Because the title and format are not widely collected, the book has only nominal value.

I am unsure what the significance of the inscription of 1894 is except to note that it has nothing to do with the date of this book.
http://henryaltemus.com/series/series180.htm

Q: I am trying to find out anything I can about this book the little lame prince by mulock copyright 1899 by henry altemus i have enclosed a photo any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated thanks john

A: This is another publisher’s series book. This time from Series #130. The Marqueterie Series. This series has 149 volumes- again all reprints. This series was published only in 1899. In addition to the Poe titles, the Lewis Carroll books -Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are occasionally in demand. http://henryaltemus.com/series/series130.htm

Q: I am looking for information on this book.  I was wondering what year it was published.  It is Dream Life by IK Marvel. Thanks.

A: This book is from the Valenciennes Series. One of the Altemus publisher’s series (http://henryaltemus.com/series/series181.htm), it consisted of 81 books-all reprints. These books originally came in a labeled box. The series was published for several years. This book is the 1897 iteration. None of the titles of these reprints are especially valuable but occasionally the Poe or Kipling titles bring a few dollars.

A Phantom Series is one that is advertised but never published. Altemus advertised a boy’s series called the Ben Lightbody Series in the 1912-1914 era. The series was noted in numerous book and print ads. For whatever reason it was never published.

I have just come across another phantom series. It is mentioned in a periodical called the Critic. The excerpt below comes from the June 19, 1897 issue.

There is no evidence that the “American Series” was ever published. Trif and Trixy was published in 1897. Of great interest is that although many copies (in red and green) show the 1897 date at the base of the title page, there is a way to distinguish the very rare first edition from the later edition.

Look carefully at the page below which is the last page of ads in the back of the book. The earlier 1897 book lists Trif and Trixy at 35 cents whereas the later lists it at 50 cents. Subtle but real. Of course, there is no evidence it was offered at 30 cents which is the phantom series price.

For completeness copies of the books are shown below.

If there were an Ebay book police patrol, they would be incredibly busy just with the Altemus listings. As this Altemus blog continues, I will try to only post the most outrageous examples. As previously compiled approximately 40% of Altemus book listings have a significant error (most commonly date of publication or edition error).

This particular book listed by the seller is often described incorrectly and frequently overpriced.

The seller headlines his ad with this:

ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND-1897-L. CARROLL-NF-
PREVIOUSLY MUSEUM OWNED ITEM WITH PROVIDENCE

I won’t quibble that he probably means provenance (a record of the ownership of the book) rather than Providence (A city in Rhode Island or the protective care of God)

Special Attributes: 1st Edition
Printing Year: 1897
Buy It Now price: US $349.99

A quick glance at the book tells us a couple of things. First it is definitely a Young People’s Library (YPL) book- Format 3. You can tell by the spine design. There are 4 different formats in the YPL, each with a characteristic spine. They can be seen here: http://henryaltemus.com/series/series202.htm.

Format 3 spines

Format 3 books were published between 1902-1923. (http://henryaltemus.com/series/series202F3.htm) But remember, even if you do not know about this series, remember the first rule of dating Henry Altemus books. Henry Altemus incorporated in 1900 to become Henry Altemus Company. If the book has Henry Altemus Company on the title page-it has to date from 1900 or later.

Also appreciate that on this book’s title page it lists 1897 as the copyright date. The copyright date is not necessarily the publication date. This is a very frequent error made by sellers looking for rarity based on early dating.

Altemus first published this title in 1895. The book advertised here used the plates from Altemus’ 1897 edition- thus the 1897 copyright. Of course the title was first published in the mid-19th century. Prior to publication of this Format 3 Alice in Wonderland, Altemus published the Format 1 book from 1895-1898. Then it published two different Format 2 (1898-1902) books-the latter of which has the same cover as our seller’s book here-but with the characteristic Format 2 spine. Generally without a dust jacket because this book is very common, a buyer should just not pay more than $15-20. The $349 price is beyond bizarre.

Format 1

Format 2

Format 2 spines

Thus what we have here is an incorrect description in terms of date and edition with a asking price 20 times the value. Not to be remiss the seller does provide papers that indicate that this book was part of an estate. Of course, the value added in this instance is zero.

Many people bought Altemus books in the 1890’s primarily because of the beautiful bindings. As early as the 1840’s Altemus & Company produced books for other publishers with elegant bindings.

Finally when Altemus published photographic albums and Bibles on its own imprint, the well made beautiful bindings did not disappoint. In the 1890’s Henry Altemus published “Presentation Editions” for two series. One was the Dore Masterpieces. The other presented here was for Series #167- The Standard 12 Mo. Series. This series had multiple formats for the 4 books. (http://henryaltemus.com/series/series167.htm).

The book pictured here is Format 6 – Tales from Shakespeare. It is among the nicest Altemus bindings I have seen. The book pictured below was only published in 1895. It is full buckram in gold and inks. Originally it was boxed.

Although it may be hard to appreciate, the gold gilt decorative pattern is embossed.

The Presentation Editions are among the rarest of all Altemus books. Probably limited publications runs is the reason.

It never ceases to amaze me that this book, if it can be found, will sell for only a few dollars and yet many of the cheap common Altemus reprints done later may sell for a premium. But more about that another day.