Q: HI! I have unearthed a family basement that has been around for nearly 100 years and came across an awesome book with Altemus Bookbindery’s name on it and thought I might ask…

It is the Tales of Shakespeare as shown on the photo attached. It does not match the one you have pcitured online here. Can you tell me anything about it or what it might be worth? Curious…maybe a great find or a family keeper…

Any information is precious. Thank you!!

A: Your book is part of the Altemus Library and is pictured here http://henryaltemus.com/series/series37.htm as #13.

Altemus published this title in numerous formats and all of them are reprints. This series is the first of the numerous publisher’s series that Altemus printed. Interestingly each title in this series was published with its own unique cover.

That makes this publisher’s series different from all the other ones that Altemus did.

Your title however is not a very widely collected one and since it is a reprint, has only nominal value.

As with many of the non series Altemus books, ooze calf editions were published along with cloth bound books. The ooze calf edition of this book was published between 1902 and 1909. The cloth book was first published in 1898. This book cannot be dated except to note it was published in 1900 or later.

The imprint is Henry Altemus Company and the title page date is 1898. Clearly Altemus just used the old title page with this book since Altemus incorporated in 1900 and any book with the Henry Altemus Company imprint must date from 1900 or later.

This book only has one glossy picture-the frontispiece is “While I Worked Away at Modeling”.

Printemps Series and Archie Gunn

As with a number of series, Altemus used illustrations by well known artists of the era to illustrate their covers and/or end papers. Alphonse Mucha and Aubrey Beardsley are two artist examples. The Printemps Series (#152) had the same cover illustration on each of its 25 titles. The books were published in 1895. This series of reprints is significant in that four early Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books are included in the book list. For more see
http://henryaltemus.com/series/series152.htm

Archie Gunn (1863-1930) did the illustration that is on the covers of this series.

Gunn’s art nouveau illustrations of lovely young women were found on watercolor paintings, posters, book and magazine illustrations and postcards as well as magazine covers and the like. I have seen late 19th century Gunn book cover illustrations on books published by A. L. Burt, Tennyson Neely, Frederick A. Stokes, and R. F. Fenno just to name a few.

He was quite prolific. Right now there are 125 Gunn postcards listed for sale on Ebay. He obviously had an incredible output.

I have been unable to locate the exact picture that is on the Altemus cover. It is shown below.

Henry Altemus published a number of juvenile series in which the characters played important roles in WW1. Most of these series were written by H. Irving Hancock – (Boys) and some others by Jessie Graham Flower (pseudonym for Josephine Chase). See http://henryaltemus.com/juveniles/ for more information. The least well known of the juvenile WW1 series is the Children of France Series (http://henryaltemus.com/series/series62.htm). This four book series chronicles the adventures of children and how they helped win the war in France.

This series is not well known like the other juvenile series. It was not advertised with other juvenile series books of the era (1918-1921). Its format is different (smaller books with an appearance more like the Young People’s Library Format 4 books). All in all, Altemus just did not consider this series to be an important one in terms of popularity and thus never really promoted it.

The books come with cover matching dust jackets and have attractive pictorial illustrations on the cover. The earlier books have four glossy color illustrations within the book and the frontispiece generally is the same as the cover paste-on. Some of the later editions only have the one internal picture- the frontispiece. Earlier and later books usually have no internal ads and the ads on the back of the dust jacket are the same juvenile series ads. Thus, trying to determine a first edition is quite impossible.

The titles:

Q: Would you be so kind as to confirm that this version of Lewis Carroll’s “Through The Looking Glass” is part of the Young Peoples Library Series #202, Volume 31, printed 1923-1933, Format 4, #3 Variant and, if it is what a fair market value would be? Thank you for your assistance.

A: Yes, this book is a Format 4 Young People’s Library book. This format is different from the earlier Young People’s Library formats in several ways. First it has the paste-on (appliqué) picture on the front cover. Next is the characteristic spine design. I am including typical spines for your information.

Originally these books came with dust jackets which for the most part matched the underlying book cover.

Dating these books more precisely between the 1923 and 1933 publication times can be difficult because of the random nature of ad placements in the back of the book.

For more on this series see http://henryaltemus.com/series/series202F4.htm.

Q: Hello, I stumbled on your great website while trying to research a book I have: “Tales From Shakspeare” Charles and Mary Lamb Henry Altemus Company Philadelphia.
I can’t find any date other than the preface and after reading your comments I don’t want to assume the 1878 is the correct printing date.
Photo is attached. Book is small (4-1/4 x 6-1/4)
Any information would be most appreciated.
Thank you.

A: Your book was published in 1907 and is part of the Vademecum Series. See http://henryaltemus.com/series/series180.htm.

It originally came in a labeled slipcase box. All the books in this series are reprints.

You are correct to question the 1878 date. Frequently Altemus reprinted older editions of titles in their entirety. So earlier prefaces and copyrights are included in the later Altemus editions.

Every now and then I find an Altemus item that I just have no feel for. Below is a reel of film filmed by the James C. Muir and Company, a Philadelphia firm. This reel contains 32 pictures (no text) from the Wee Folks Cinderella Series Tom Thumb Book (http://henryaltemus.com/series/series188.htm).

The reel is titled “Filmascope” Tom Thumb and was “reproduced with the Permission of Henry Altemus Company Philadelphia”, Copyright 1921.

Apparently Muir produced a number of these little reels in the late 1920’s.

I presume that the little metal canister is an original. If anyone has any information about this little reel, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Q: Can you please tell me when this book was published? There is a picture in front by Adolf Thiede 1898. Book published by Henry Altemus Company. I found the book to be #40 in the series 143 Petite Trianon but I could not find the cover on the website. The flowers look like dogwood blossoms but am not sure. What is the value of the book? It is in good condition. Thank you.

A: Your book is part of the Petit Trianon Series. http://henryaltemus.com/series/series143.htm. It originally was published in a labeled slipcase box.

It was published in 1901-1902. In this year the left half of the cover has a picture of the standing lady. That part of the cover has been seen in pink or beige. The right half of the cover had one of sixteen different flower pictures. All of the flower possibilities are pictured above.

All of the titles in this series are reprints. Your book’s title is not a very collectible one and thus the book only has nominal value.

Q: Good afternoon,

I have a book that was published by Henry Altemus, Philadelphia. It is Poems, Volume I by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It appears to have been a gift given to somebody dated December 25, 1898.
Would you be able to provide any information on this book?
I didn’t take a pic but I attached the cover from the website for identification purposes.

A: Your book is part of the Vademecum Series and was published in 1898. It originally came within a slipcase labeled box. The books of 1898 all had the same cover decoration but have been seen with various colors.

As with all of the titles in this series, it is a reprint. Because this title is not a particularly collectible one, the book only has nominal value.

For more information, see http://henryaltemus.com/series/series179.htm

Occasionally on the cover of an Altemus Bible there is an engraving with a family name or an identifying icon. For example a Bible produced for the Benevolent Order of the Elks has a gold gilt Elk pictured on the cover-B60 (See: http://henryaltemus.com/publications/elks.htm).

Today I am adding to the database a Bible that has a presentation inscription in gold gilt letters on the front. It states “Presented to the Ladies Aid of Corporal W. H. Rihl Camp No.99 S. of U. by George W. Childs”.

The Bible is interesting because it is like no other Altemus Bible that I have seen. It is dated 1887. It has no illustrations. There are no special features such as dictionaries, marriage pages, commentaries, etc. in this Bible. Clearly George Childs spent nothing extra on this gift presentation. The cover though is identical to the Bible shown on the site as B2. (See: http://henryaltemus.com/bibles/bibles.htm). Interestingly the B2 Bible has an inscription (family name). The B2 Bible is one of the few Altemus Bible covers that has a space for an inscription.

I suspect that many of these featureless, bare bones Bibles were used as presentation gifts.

George W. Childs (1829-1894) was a well known literary figure. He was a Philadelphia publisher with the house of Childs and Peterson. He was also the publisher of the Philadelphia Public Ledger. His classic autobiography “Recollections” gives insights into his relationships with a number of literary heavyweights of the era. This included Hawthorne, Longfellow, Emerson, etc. His biographies make it clear that he was also a well respected philanthropist. Of course, what man about town did not have his own cigars. Shown below is a Childs’ cigar box and an autographed card.