This 8 x 5.5 book has eight photographs. It is based on articles which previously appeared in the Saturday Evening Post.

Jonathan Ogden Armour was the president of Armour and Company, a large meat packing corporation. The subject material of this book is about the meat industry and not about the best football team in the land. The book also discusses private-car lines and private freight car system.

Armour’s Saturday Evening Post articles about the meat packing business appeared on March 3, 1906, March 10, 1906, March 24 and March 31 issues. His articles about private-car lines and private freight car systems appeared in the January 6 and January 20th issues.

The Packers in the Saturday Evening Post
As is noted above, this book was based on articles which appeared in a number of 1906 Saturday Evening Post magazines.

Here is the March 3, 1906 magazine. The cover picture was drawn by F. B. Masters.

See also Non Series #106

This 7.5 x 5 book has 328 pages. There are twelve Gustave Verbeek illustrations on glossy paper. Sixteen chapters each highlight a different animal.

This book came with a dust jacket which has not been seen as of yet.

The author, Ellen Velvin, was born in Southampton, England. She wrote a number of books about wild animals, zoos, and animal training (including another 1902 Altemus book, Wild Creatures Afield).

The ad below appeared in 1902 in the Publisher’s Weekly. I have not seen two different editions of this title. Although the advertisement notes the second edition now ready, I suspect that there is no distinguishing feature between the two editions.

This title was obviously a big seller for Altemus since it had two different printings within this first year of publication.

See also Non Series #118

This 7.5 x 5.5 284 page book has no illustrations. It was priced at $1.50.

The sequel “Evelyn.. A Continuation of Red Roses” was not published by Altemus.

The author’s full name is Samuel Joyce Thomas.

See also Non Series #119

This 7.75 x 5.25 book has 127 pages. It was published by Altemus in two formats. In 1906 it had board covers and cost 50 cents. A boxed ooze calf format was published in 1907 and cost $1.00.

F. L. Fithian did six illustrations that are on glossy paper.

The Altemus publication is the first of this title in book form. It had been previously published in the July 2, 1904 Saturday Evening Post.

This one page flyer was found in a Young People’s Library book that was published in 1906. This piece is 6 x 3.25.

See also Non Series #136

The non series edition of this title has 432 pages and is 7.75 x 6. Altemus published this title in a number of its publisher’s series but this is the only non series edition.

There are seven color line draw pictures. They are unattributed.

Illustrated end papers

This 7.75 x 5.25 book has 127 pages. The only illustration is the frontispiece by Curtis Wager-Smith. It was priced at 50 cents.

This is the first book edition of this title. It was published in cloth for 50 cents and ooze calf in a box for $1.00.

The Watermead Affair first appeared in the October 21, 1905 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. Edward Penfield drew the front cover. John Cecil Clay did the illustrations within the magazine.

It also appeared in the 1906 Idler: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine. This version has illustrations by Wilmot Lunt. Robert Barr was an editor of this magazine.

October 21, 1905		From The Idler – 1906

See also Non Series #141

This 7.5 x 5 book has 317 pages. There are eight glossy illustrations done by Gustave Verbeek.

It was published with a dust jacket. There is no evidence that Altemus printed more than one edition. There are 21 chapters each of which highlights a different “wild creature”.

The author, Ellen Velvin, was born in Southampton, England. She wrote a number of books about wild animals, zoos, and animal training (including another 1902 Altemus book, Rataplan).

See also Non Series #146

This non series Altemus title was published in 1895. It is 7.5 x 5.25 with 184 pages. There are four glossy illustrations by Foerster in addition to a photograph of Vic (also on glossy paper).

This title’s first edition was published in 1892 by F. J. Schulte and Co., a Chicago publisher.

Note that Ms. Moore’s middle name is misspelled on the Altemus title page. The correct spelling is Moore.

This is the first format of Vic that Altemus published. After this 1895 publication Vic was also included in a number of Altemus’ publisher’s Series.

Here are a couple of later Altemus “Vic’s”:

Series #58 Boys and Girl’s Classics (1899-1906)

Series #202 Young People’s Library

Q: See pics belong I’m trying to date this book. Black Beauty. I’ve read over the site. It looks like the format 1 version until you look at the front of the book, it has a design on the front. There are multiple ads in the back. And on the spine it says Sewell and not altemus.

A: This book is from the Vademecum Series.

This cover is the one used for this series in 1898. Numerous different color combinations were seen with this basic cover. Some are shown below.

All of the titles in this series are reprints.

Q: I recently came into possession of an old book entitled Heroes and Hero Worship by Thomas Carlyle. It doesn’t have a copyright date and is in pretty poor shape as I don’t think it was well taken care of. Could you please enlighten me as to when it may have been published?

A: This book is part of the Vademecum Series and was published in the 1909-1912 timeframe. All of the titles within this series are reprints.

It originally came in a labeled box. A representative box is shown below.