Buyer beware is a very appropriate expression when it comes to purchasing items on Ebay. Fortunately as opposed to many sites where books are for sale (Amazon, ABE, ETSY, etc., etc.,) most of the Ebay books come with pictures that can save the day and prevent a bad buy. I thought I would highlight some of these mistakes in the next few blogs.

Series #4 Battleship Boys
Here is the blurb with its pictures:

The Battleship Boys in the Tropics 1912 1st Edition Frank Gee Patchin Honduras
The Battleship Boys in the Tropics or, Upholding the American Flag in a Honduras Revolution

By Frank Gee Patchin

Philadelphia:
Henry Altemus Company
1912 (1st Edition)

Approx Size: 5 x 7.75 inches (13 x 19.5 cms)
Hardback. 212, [4] (ads) printed pages

Now for the reality:

At the base of the copyright page you can see Printed in the U. S. A. This appeared on Altemus books beginning in about 1922.

Next the book has 212 pages. All of the juvenile series books had about 250 pages until they were abridged in 1930. Then the number of pages were cut to about 210-212.

Finally the first edition cover has colors as can be seen below.

Thus this is a post-1930 book and clearly not a first edition.

For help with dating an Altemus juvenile series book see: http://henryaltemus.com/juveniles/