Monthly Archives: February 2013

Question & Answer Series 179 Vademecum Series

Q: I have a copy of Henry Altemus Productions – Treasure Island… has the typical dedication to S.L.O. and American gentleman – but the cover is quite different from your website. Do you have any idea of the age of this book?

A: Your book is part of the Vademecum Series and was published in 1897. All of the titles in this series are reprints.

During this year all of the cover basic decorative patterns are the same but many different color variations have been noted.

Some are shown below.

Question & Answer Series 180 Vademecum Series

Q: Please let me know when this book (In Black and White) was published.
Thank You Very Much.

A: This book was published in 1900 as part of the Vademecum Series.

This is a publisher’s series in which all of the titles are reprints and have little value.

During this year the cover picture of flowers was stereotypical but the color of the cover had a number of variations.

Some examples are below.

Tanglewood Tales In His Steps Minister of the World
Hyperion Black Beauty

Newspaper Cuttings/Scrapbook

Here is the second “Newspaper Cuttings” scrapbook for the database. This scrapbook has 100 pages for newspaper cuttings and alphabetized ledger pages as well. This scrapbook was copyrighted in 1874. It is 11.25 x 9.25.

Window in Thrums by James M. Barrie

Window in Thrums by James M. Barrie – American First Edition published by Altemus or not – NOT

The first English edition of this title was published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1889.

Currently there are two books listed on EBay (published by Henry Altemus) as first American editions of this James M. Barrie title. The asking prices are huge. The author of Peter Pan and The Little Minister is a very collectible author. Since I know that all Altemus Barrie books are reprints, I thought I would look into these claims a bit more.

This book is listed as “Buy it now” for $849. It has a title page date of 1894. The seller goes through a long list of reasons why this is an American first. Except for the date – he/she is confused.

This book is part of the Vademecum Series. This is a publisher’s series which consists of numerous reprints.

The second claim of an Altemus first edition comes from a seller asking $800 for this book.

This seller gives a date of 1896 which is correct. This 1895-1896 Altemus published book is part of the Petit Trianon Series. This series is another publisher’s series of reprints.

Now you may ask – How do I know for sure that these are not American first editions? Actually these books are not even Altemus first editions.

Altemus published this title in 1893 in the Altemus Library. This is another publisher’s series of reprints.
The Altemus Library with its title page is shown below. So clearly there can be no possibility that the above sellers have an American first. Rather they have one of a myriad of reprints of this title-all of which have minimal value.

Here is the 1893 Altemus edition of this title.

Finally, the Sir James M. Barrie Bibliography written by C. D. Cutler in 1931 lists the Cassell Publishing Company in 1892 as the first American Publisher. This reference also lists 1892 editions published by M. J. Ivers, New York, F. M. Lupton Company (Bijou Series), New York and Lovell, Coryell and Company, New York.

It appears that Cutler missed the 1891 12 mos. cloth Cassell Publishing Company copy. This appears to be the true American first edition.

As is always true, do not take the claims of Ebay sellers as absolute. Do your own research. One of the sellers above ignored all of the logic given here regarding his claim of an Altemus American first edition.

Series 202 Young People’s Library Format 1

There are 23 books in the first format of the Young People’s Library.

With just a couple of exceptions, the cover of each title was unchanged during the course of this format (1895-1898) except for the colors.

Here is an example. Today I am adding the blue covered “A Child’s History of England” to the database. Previously I had only seen the beige book.

Series 202 Format 2 Young People’s Library

This format was published between 1898 and 1902. Because of their age, dust jackets for these books are difficult to find. The front of the jackets are plain without colors and match the line drawn pictures on the front of the books.

The back of the dust jackets have a list of the books in this series. I have seen seven variants up to this time.

Shown here are earlier dust jackets that list 22 (1898), 26 (early 1899), 29 (later-1899) and 31 books (probably early 1900).

Here are three dust jackets that have the Henry Altemus Company imprint: the numbering on these dust jackets changed after #30. The earliest of these lists Great Sea Fights as #31 and Wonder Book as #58. (1900)

The next Dust jacket ends with #55 Josephine. (Early 1902). The last Format 2 book has #58 as Animal Stories for Little People. (Later 1902)

Series 63 Children of the Bible Series

This ten book series of religious topics was published with seven formats. Today I am adding a picture to the Format 1a books. Now all ten are pictured. The new book is shown below with the Format 1a caption.

For more information about this series see Children of the Bible Series

Here are the seven different format books. All originally came with dust jackets.


Format 1

Format 1a

Format 2

Format 3

 


Format 3a

Format 4

Format 5

Question & Answer Non Series 64 Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Q: Hey I had gotten this book for Christmas and I was wondering if you had information on it. Someone had written 1898 in the front cover but I wasn’t sure if that was the publishing date or not.
Thanks

A: This book was published in 1918. It is 333 pages and has numerous short tales with a number of colored pictorial illustrations. It is oversized at 8.25 x 6.

After 1922 Altemus reprinted this book with a new cover that has an appliqué. The new book has plain endpapers and the key dating point:
At the base of the copyright page it says “Printed in the United States of America” indicating a post-1922 publication.


1922 Edition

Copyright page post-1922

(enlarged detail)

Series 202 Young People’s Library Format 2

The Format 2 books of the Young People’s Library were published between 1898 and 1902. Even though this format was short lived, most of the book titles have been seen with more than one cover variant. Occasionally a title has more than one cover picture. More frequently a title has the same cover picture with different colors.

Here is an example. The earlier Robinson Crusoe has gold gilt as opposed to the later one which has a plain yellow coloring. Also note that the earlier book has the Henry Altemus imprint which denotes a pre-1900 publication.

Here is the earlier book:

Later edition:
This book has the Henry Altemus Company imprint indicating a 1900 or later printing.

For more information see Young People’s Library Format 2.