Q: I was recently going through some old books I have that either came from my grandmother’s house or from a library book sale. I’m thinking it came from my grandmother’s house, though, as there are no library markings on it. Longfellow’s Poems Volume II

Anyway, I was curious as to when it was published; but there is no date listed anywhere in the book. So I did some research on your website and have come to the conclusion that it was either printed in 1903 or 1904. I found a picture of a book with the same cover, but different title on your website. This is based on information I found on your website at the links below:

http://www.henryaltemus.com/series/series143.htm

http://www.henryaltemus.com/series/images/S143_1903_v224.jpg

Attached are a picture of the cover and of the inside title page. Would you say this is a rather accurate assessment of the publishing date?

As you can see, it’s not in the greatest of shape; but I don’t really care about that as I love antiques. And if it did come from my grandmother’s house, it also has sentimental value. I find it interesting that it starts at page 187, though. But I’m assuming that’s because it’s Volume II.

Anyway, I was just curious to know what else you may know about it; and I thought you may find these pictures interesting.

A: Your research is right on target. This title is part of a publisher’s series. These series which were produced by numerous firms generally included a number of books that required no author reimbursement. All the titles here were reprints.

In this series the cover had a stereotypical left sided pedestal design and one of 16 flower pictures on the right. The volumes originally came within a labeled box. (An example is below.)

Interestingly the pedestal design area has been seen in beige (most common), blue, pink and this format was also published in ooze calf (least common).