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.