Monthly Archives: December 2013

Question & Answer Series 179 Vademecum Series

Q: Hi, How are you? I spent Thanksgiving with a friend and his parents. I mentioned that I was a Shakespeare fan and his mom showed us a copy of Tales from Shakespeare printed by Henry Altemus. The book looks particularly old and the cover is beautiful to me as I have an obsession with shamrocks. I tried searching both your website and google to figure out the publishing date but haven’t been successful. I attached pictures of the book and it’s title pages. Could you please tell me what you know about this edition? We are all really interested in finding out more about it.

A: This book is part of the Vademecum Series and was published in 1897. Originally it came within a labeled box. The cover format for 1897 was published in a multitude of colors. See below.

It is a reprint and has little value.

Question & Answer Series 47 Beauxarts Series

Q: I have been looking all over for price range for this book that I have but I have been unable to find much info on it via the internet. I am not sure if it is rare or not. I am really hoping you can be of some help! I have attached some pictures of the book to this email. Any help at all that you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

A: Your book is part of the Beauxarts Series and was published in 1898. All of the books in this series are reprints.

It generally sells for only a few dollars if it sells at all.

Series 202 Young People’s Library Format 3

This series had four formats. Format #3 was published between 1902-1923. It can be distinguished from the other formats rather easily because of the characteristic spine floral design.

Today I am adding a new cover picture to this series’ pictures. Most, if not all, of the titles in this format had more than one cover color or design.

Book #6 A Child’s Life of Christ has at least three different color patterns for the same cover picture. Here are the three covers noted so far.


Earlier

Later (newly added picture)

Latest

Vademecum Series – European paintings

The Vademecum Series is a multivolumed, multiauthored series of books that was published between 1894 and 1926. The covers of the books as well as the titles changed from year to year. This series is one of a number of publisher’s series that printed the same titles but in different formats.

Perhaps the most interesting of the Vademecum books are the ones published between 1901-1907. During this period of time there were 6 different covers which had paintings by European artists as appliques on the front covers of the books. Because of the width of the original paintings, two books may have parts of the same painting but may look totally different from each other because they have different sections of the painting on their covers.

As of this time I have seen more than 40 different “sections” of paintings. They have been given arbitrary numbers.
See http://henryaltemus.com/vademecum.htm

Today I am adding a new section to one of the paintings.

Here is the new book. It was published in 1907. Note that the new picture extends to the left the composite (#10 and #17) picture shown.
Lowell's Poems

Series 34 Young Engineers Series (First edition)

Books #1 and 2 First Edition Points

This five volume series was first introduced in 1912 with a two volume breeder set. The first edition dust jackets for the first two titles that were published in 1912 list only the two Young Engineer Series books:

The Young Engineers in Colorado
The Young Engineers in Arizona

But this jacket does not absolutely indicate a first edition. Determining the true first edition for the first two titles requires an analysis of the advertisements in the back. The true first edition lists only three Automobile Girl books whereas the later books list four Automobile Girl books.

Also the ad for the Young Engineers is different. The first edition blurb is the same as the dust jacket blurb.
The first edition-second state blurb is different. It is the one that is used in all subsequent Young Engineer ads.

Question & Answer Series 180 Vademecum Series

Q: We have the attached book (Tanglewood Tales) in our library and it was published by Henry Altemus Company and is in excellent condition. We are trying to find out how much it is worth, however are unable to find another book with this cover or the year it was published. Can you help us?

A: Your book was published in 1904 as part of the Vademecum Series. It originally came in a labeled box. During this year the covers were published with a number of colors. Four different flower appliqués have been seen on the front cover.

Flowers and a representative picture of a labeled box are shown.

It is a reprint and has only nominal value.

Question & Answer Series 202 Young People’s Library, Format 4

Q: As per your information on your website, I assume this book is format 4, #63. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. What what this book be priced at? It is in excellent condition, however a name on the inside.

A: Your book is part of the Young People’s Library, Format 4.

This format was published between 1923 and 1933. The books all have a book appropriate appliqué on the cover. The dust jacket matches the cover of the book. I have included a dust jacket for interest.

The books in this series only have nominal value unless a dust jacket is present or the book has a very collectible title, i.e. Alice in Wonderland.
Your book will be a hard sell for more than a few dollars.

Non Series #14 At the Beautiful Gate by I. Mench Chambers

At this time I have recognized 152 different non series Altemus published books. Better than 95% of all Altemus books were published in series form.

Looking at the non series list (http://henryaltemus.com/nonseries.html) you can see that there are still a number of titles I have still not found.

These undiscovered books are not necessarily valuable but they are certainly quite scarce. Here is a newly found non series book.

This 141 page book of Poems was published in 1902. It is 7 x 4.75.
This book was published previously in the Devotional Series.

Altemus did not publish the first edition of this title.

The author, Isaiah Mench Chambers (1865-1933), was born in Pennsylvania and went to Lafayette College. He was a Presbyterian minister in addition to being a lecturer and author.

Question & Answer Series 179 Vademecum Series

Q: I found this book at a garage sale the other day, I have scanned all the google info on Cranford: Mrs. Gaskell that I can possibly absorb and have yet to find an image that looks exactly like this book. I did find a Benjamin Franklin book from the same “Henry Altemus – Philadelphia” that has the exact same hardback binding, coloring, and design – just totally different content and titling was within it. Just curious as to why I don’t see this particular combination of hardback and content within the pages of Google that I have combed so far. Hoping you might be able to clue me in on the specifics of this magnificent little story book – it would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

A: Your book is an 1896 publication and is part of the Vademecum Series.

This title was reprinted by numerous book publishers in the 1880-1900 range. There are hundreds of different formats in various color covers, etc. Any one version might be hard to find. For instance your book but with an orange cover. But finding the title in a reprint is very easy. For that reason, unless your title is one that is coveted by collectors, it has only nominal value.