Salesman Sample
Series 180 Vademecum
Series 1903
Here is an extremely rare item from the Henry Altemus Company. Whether
this was a salesman sample of covers or some sort of marketing aid is
unknown. My guess is that this piece was used to show store owners the
variety of covers that Altemus books could be found with and how this
variety could help sales.
Between 1901 and 1907 some of the Altemus' Vademecum Series' books had
appliqué covers with European paintings. More than 40 different ones
have been seen. In most instance several different cover pictures could
be put together to form a larger illustration. See:
http://www.henryaltemus.com/vademecum.htm
The cover templates below were from books published in 1903. Very
interesting is that the title :"Allegories of the Heart" which is on
the fourth cover from the left was never published by Altemus.
I have seen one similar item over the years. That item has three of the
six 1904 Wee Books for Wee Folk's Series' covers. See below.
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Salesman
Sample
Series 185 Wee
Books
This piece includes the
attached covers of three of the six books of the Format 1 Wee Books for
Wee Folks Series (#185). No other information about this item exists.
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Salesman
Dummy Book
Series 78 Dore's
Masterpieces
Here is a salesman dummy (sample) book for this series. It was
published in the early 1890's. These books were used by traveling
salesman (such as H. M. Caldwell) to show the different books that were
available. Frequently different formats of the same title were included
in the Dummy Book. Here different titles in this same series were shown.
Series titles #1-4 are included in this sales piece. #1 Dore's Bible
Gallery and #4 Dante's Purgatory and Paradise make up the front and
back cover respectively. The book covers are 12 x 9.75 and are from the
Format 1 books.
Titles #2 (Milton's Paradise Lost) and #3 (Dante's Inferno) are
displayed when the book is opened.
Inside the back cover is a representative spine for the series.
In the back of the book there are sheets to record purchaser's names
and addresses.
Within
the book there are short excerpts from The Dore Bible Gallery, Dante's
Inferno,and Milton's Paradise Lost.
This item is among the rarest of all the Altemus ephemera I have seen
over the years.
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Salesman
Dummy Book
Series 78 Dore's
Masterpieces
This sample book is from the early 1890's. The door to door
publisher'srepresentative would show this book to prospective buyers.
This book
highlights Format 1 of the Dore's Masterpieces Series.
This is the second Salesman Sample book of this series that I have
seen. This book differs a bit from the other one. Its condition is not
quite as good and I think two of the covers that would have been part
of the book may have been removed.
The external covers have Milton's Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno,
Note that the other sample book has these two covers internally.
Milton's Paradise Lost was bound upside down. The covers are 12" x
9.75".
Inside the front cover are three sample spines.
Within the book are excerpts from Dore's Bible Gallery, Dante's
Inferno, and Milton's Paradise Lost. Interestingly a one page flyer
advertising Paradise Lost is tipped in at the first page of its
excerpt.
In the back are a number of pages of customers who had ordered one
ofthese books. The addresses are all in the northern California area
(Sacramento, Stockton, etc.)
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