If lesson one for dating Altemus books is that Henry Altemus incorporated to become Henry Altemus Company in 1900, then lesson two is that no Altemus books were published for reading prior to 1889.

A caveat sent to me is that Bibles are not included in this rule. I guess I never expected someone to say that they thought the Bible was a reading book but I will stand corrected.

Here is an example for rule #2. An Ebay seller lists this book.

1851 The Snow Image And Other Twice Told Tales
The Snow Image And Other Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne.Illustrated.Published by Henry Altemus Company.No copyright date but there is a preface to book dated November 1st,1851..

Now the reality is that this book is a post 1900 edition (Henry Altemus Company not Henry Altemus) from the Riviere Series (http://henryaltemus.com/series/series158.htm) published in 1901. But the major mistake the seller makes is dating the book based on the preface. Altemus as well as other reprint publishers reproduced the book in toto- everything was reprinted including the dated preface.

You just cannot use the preface for dating an Altemus book. Mistakes on the Altemus Hawthorne books are relatively common.

I have included a couple of listings from ABE just for laughs. Again the uniformed sellers date their books based on the preface dating. I find this more troubling than the Ebay listings because at least the Ebay listings have pictures which these do not. Also I like to think that the ABE sellers are more experienced and knowledgeable–I guess not!! Note that the sellers have 5 star ratings!!

Scarlet Letter: A Romance
Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Bookseller Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Price: US $28.00
Book Description: Henry Altemus, Philadelphia, 1850. Hard Cover. Book 16mo – Second Edition. Water damage front bottom corner. Tanning. Soiled. Binding good. 1893 on title page. Preface to the Second Edition by author dated 1850.

The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne; Introduction-William Lyon Phelps
Bookseller: Redux Books
(Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.)
Bookseller Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Book Description: Henry Altemus, 1850. Hardcover. Book Condition: Used:
Below is an example of an Altemus Scarlet Letter’s preface.