Q: I have a important question to ask. My father gave me a book called “The Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Longfellow. The cover of the book is made of leather which is very frail and fragile. It has 219 pages with notes and vocabulary sections at the end. Inside the first pages is a drawing of “Minnehaha”. It was published at The Henry Altemus Company. I was wondering if it could possibly be an original from 1855?

A: Your book is part of the 10 book Poems We Love Series. It was published between 1912 and 1915. The covers have been seen in brown or green suede. The books originally came in a labeled box.

More information about your book can be found at http://henryaltemus.com/series/series146.htm

It only has nominal value.

Q: Hello, we have a copy of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” with the box. The binding is much different than others we have seen from this era [Date of T.P. 1897] The binding is printed cloth in several colors with Dutch people, windmills, etc. Red and black paper labels on the front and spine. White endpapers, color frontis, other color and B & W illus. 160 pp. plus ads. Measures 6.75 X 5.25 inches.

The box has a paper floral top. A paper label on the side of the box say’s “NO.2 Altemus Boys and Girls Classics Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.”

We cannot find an Altemus copy with this binding anywhere. The book itself is Near Fine. Can we assume this is a rare variant binding? Would you have a est. value?

Thank you for your help and excellent website.

A: Your book can be found here: http://henryaltemus.com/series/series57.htm

This is not a rare binding variant. The binding you describe can be seen in its entirety in the picture section as Swatch 1.

I have seen several designs on the box. They are also shown in the picture section.

Estimating the value is a difficult proposition. Some very common Altemus titles sometimes sell for a multiple of what I think they are worth on one day. On the next day they do not sell at all.

I would estimate a fair value for your book with the scarce box is between $25-100.

This series has five formats. http://henryaltemus.com/series/series121.htm

The third format has been seen in brown and purple previously. Now a green cover has been discovered. This format comes with a dust jacket that matches the book cover. The three cover colors are shown below.

In Series #166 Slip-in-the-Pocket Classics the Format 5 cover is identical to this book. That format has been seen in brown, blue and green.
The Series #166 books are boxed not jacketed. See: http://henryaltemus.com/series/series166.htm

This series of 76 books was published between 1907 and 1923. The books are all reprints. The series is comprised of various fiction classics.

See: http://henryaltemus.com/series/series166.htm

Shown below is the fifth of the five formats known for this series. Until now only one color had been seen. In addition to the brown color cover, here are two additional covers- green and blue. This format also came in a labeled box.

The box is different from the usual Altemus box. The box cover matches the book cover. Generally Altemus boxes have an attached label but the cover of the box is either plain or has a random floral pattern.

Below are the three different covers and the box of this format.

Here is a book from the Series #203 Yuletide Series. http://henryaltemus.com/series/series203.htm

It is presently being auctioned on Ebay (12/2010)

This series has eight books mostly related to the Christmas holidays. Regarding this particular book I guess some high bids might be expected because it is the week before Christmas but this is beyond common sense. With a day to go there have been 19 bids with the latest at $126.00.

The seller notes: Rare! Charles Dickens A Christmas carol Circa 1890.

Unfortunately this seller is less than candid especially since he emailed me to ask about the book and I told him that it was published between 1912-1916. He sort of forgot to amend his auction ad. I also told him that the book was not rare and should not sell for too much. Obviously I was wrong on the latter count.

But there is a fool born everyday. Look at the description: “The cover of the book has come off of the binding”. Who would buy a late reprint of a common title that is falling apart. Even in great shape with the original labeled box it normally would not sell for anything close to $100.

At least the buyer is getting close to what is advertised (just dated wrong). Clearly there is no erroneous claim about the edition, etc.

In the next few posts I will show some books that are described inaccurately in regards to rarity and edition and are for sale for unbelievably unreasonable prices.