Q: My father just passed away and I found this book (Exploration and Discovery in the Frozen Seas) amongst his belongings and I was wondering about this book due to its age and the little research I did online about it. Can you shed some light on it?

A: Your book is part of the Young People’s Library. This series was published from 1895 to 1933. This book is part of Format 1 which was published between 1895 and 1898. Each format has a characteristic spine decoration. The Format 1 spine is shown below.

The Format 1 books with this title have been seen with two different cover illustrations and in several different colors. They are shown below. The edition of your book can be determined by examining the ads in the front and the back and looking at the website information. http://henryaltemus.com/series/series202F1.htm

The Format 1 books are slightly smaller (6.5 x 5) than the Format 2-4 books.