Q: I was wondering if you could help me identify what year my copy of Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There was published in. I check EVERYTHING on your site, but there was nothing at all that could identify this book. I got it from a antique store yesterday, just because I wanted to read it, but I’d still like to know what year it was published in. Also, I don’t have a picture of the cover of the book right now, but I can get one later.

First off, the ads at the back of the book to advertise other books all say Altemus on the pages. They do say Henry Altemus Company, so it was made from 1900 or later according to your site. The ads are for Attemus’ New Illustrated Young People’s Library, Altemus’ Stories from History Series, Altemus’s Illustrated Mother Goose Series, Altemus’ Illustrated Little Men and Women Series, Altemus’ Illustrated Wee Books for Wee Folks, Children’s gift Series, One-Syllable Series for Young Readers, Altemus’ Illustrated Dainty Series of Choice Gift Books, Altemus’s Young Folks Puzzle Picture’s Series, Altemus’ Illustrated Mother Stories Series, The Motor Boat Club Series, The Range and Grange Hustlers, Submarine Boys Series, The Square Dollar Boys Series, The College Girls Series, Dave Darrin Series, Pony Rider Boys Series, The Boys of Steel Series, The Madge Morton Books, High School Boys Series, Grammar School Boys Series, High School Boys Vacation Series, Boys of the Army Series, Battleship Boys Series, The Meadow-Brook Girls Series.

There was no copyright page or anything with years or editions in this book at either the front or the back. There was no Jacket or Box. It seems like at one point in time there was a label on the spine, but most of it is gone now, and you can’t make out any words. There was no title on the cover, and NONE of the covers or spines match your pictures on your site because Alice isn’t even on the cover!

The cover contains a boy with 2 or 3 dogs, a lady with an umbrella and pink sun hat, on the back is someone driving a buggy with a donkey pulling it. It a hard cover… I think.

The only way I knew this was Through the Looking Glass is because of the contents inside. The Table of contents lists chapters such as Looking-Glass House, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and Queen Alice. Plus it has Dinah for a cat.

A: I have included a copy of the cover which I think you are describing. Your book is part of the Boys and Girls Classics Series. This series was published between 1908 and 1926.

The covers are cut from large pictorial linen swatches. These swatches are bigger than are needed to cover a book, so some covers may appear to be unrelated but are still from the same large picture. Examples are shown on the website.

These books originally were published within floral decorated boxes.

Based on the ads in the back of your book, I suspect a 1913-1914 publication.