Henry Altemus Company

Annapolis Series

Ebay description:  Dave Darrin's Third Year At Annapolis by H. Hancock First Edition/First Print Altemus' 1911

The Reality:  The first edition has red lettering. It does have the same cover though. I cannot determine what date this book was published without a look at the spine, ads and/or jacket.

Automobile Girls Series

Ebay description:  RARE Laura Dent Crane " Automobile Girls At Wash. "1913

Description
Special Attributes: 1st Edition
Printing Year: 1913

Full title:" The Automobile Girls At Washingtong Or Checkmating The Plots Of Foreign Spies " by Laura Dent Crane. Henry Altemus Company 1913. First Edition I believe. Illustrated with one plate illustration with caption opposite the title page. Nice color plate illustration by Walt Hayn on the front cover. 253 pages not counting 16 pages of ads for other Altemus series books at the end. Scarce book. One in the "Automobile Girls" series. I don't know if it was issued with a dustjacket or not.

The Reality:  The applique (paste-on) covers were not used on Altemus series books until 1926. All series books came jacketed. So, clearly not a first edition. This book has been seen in three formats and this book is part of the third and last format. The dust jacket format (which matches the book cover) is shown here. For more information see: http://henryaltemus.com/series/series3.htm

Battleship Boys

Ebay description:  

College Girls Series

Ebay description:  The book is first edition. All pages 1-256. The book is written by Jessie Graham, A.M. Author The High School Girls Series, The Girls Series, etc. and the book was published by Henry altemus company.

The Reality:  The applique (paste-on) covers were not seen on the juvenile series books until 1926. This book was first published in 1915. The first edition had a line drawn picture on the front cover. See bibliography.

Grace Harlowe Overland Riders

Ebay description:  2 BOOKS- 1921 GRACE HARLOWE'S OVERLAND RIDERS SERIES
1ST EDITIONS WITH ORIGINAL DUST JACKETS- ALTEMUS

This is a super lot of 2 books written by Grace Harlowe and published in 1921 by Henry Altemus company and copyright 1921 by Howard Altemus. They are titled "Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders In the Great North Woods and On The Great American Desert".

The Reality:  These books are not first editions but rather second format books. They were published in or later than 1924. This is based on the format date (see bibliography) as well as the back ads which show books published in 1924. Below are pictured the first format jackets. See: http://henryaltemus.com/series/series14.htm

High School Boys Series

Ebay description:  The High School Captain of the Team

Our price: $65.00

Edition: First
Publisher: Altemus
Place: Philadelphia
Date published: (1910)

Philadelphia: Altemus. (1910). First. Second state with applied-paper pictorial. Page edges and binding a little soiled, else very good lacking the dustwrapper. A nice copy of a cheaply made book. Football action at high school level. Last of the four "High School Boys" series.

The Reality:  This book has the paste-on (applique) cover which is part of the third format of this series which was published at its earliest in 1926. See: http://henryaltemus.com/juveniles/ This ubiquitous book without a dust jacket has only nominal value. As is frequently the case, the seller confuses a copyright date with a publication date.

Appreciate with very few exceptions that these juvenile series books without jackets have virtually no value. They are just too common to be worth much.

High School Vacation Days

Ebay description:  THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE 1913 1ST ED 1ST DJ

THIS IS ... THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE THE 4TH IN THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS VACATION SERIES. THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED BY ALTEMUS IN 1913. THIS BOOK LISTS TO ITSELF IN THE BOOK ADS AND ON THE VERY SCARCE DUST JACKET.

The Reality:  This jacket is from the third format and was not published until 1924. Since this is the fourth and final book in the series, naturally the ads only list to itself. A 5th book was never published. I suspect if the seller looked, later series books are listed in the ads.

High School Girls Series

Ebay description:  Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year @ High School W/DJ CR 1910

Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School W/ DJ or The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshmen Girls by Jessie Graham Flower, Illustrated. Published by Henry Altemus Co. CR 1910 I think this is a First Edition.

Special Attributes: 1st Edition

Printing Year: 1910

The Reality:  Just from looking at the dust jacket it can be determined that this book is a later reprint and not a first edition.

The white coated jackets replaced the brown uncoated jackets in 1914. In addition the first jacket had a different illustration.
See: http://henryaltemus.com/series/series19.htm

Pony Rider Boys Series

Ebay description:  1910, THE PONY RIDER BOYS in OZARKS, Frank Gee Patchin

Printing Year: 1910

Description

THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS or The Secret of Ruby Mountain by Frank Gee Patchin

Illustrated frontispiece and three plates with black and white drawings

Published by Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia, copyright 1910, no other date. Hardcover blue cloth binding with pastedown illustration of two Pony Rider Boys; 252 pages plus 16 pages of book advertising, 5" x 7 1/2".

The Reality:  This book is a third format style in this series. The applique covers were first printed in 1924. Thus, that is the earliest date for this book. See: http://henryaltemus.com/series/series25.htm for more information.

By the way, the starting price of 24.50 for this late edition without a jacket is way out of line. A couple of bucks would be more like it.

Submarine Boys Series

Ebay description:  ... The Submarine Boys Secret Mission, First Edition, with Dust Jacket, from 1920. ... The publisher is Altemus, written by Durham.

The Reality:  This book with the pictorial dust jacket was published at its earliest in 1926 as part of the 3rd format of this series. The 1920 copyrighted book was first seen in the 2nd format of this series. The jacket is white coated with a line drawn picture. See below.