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Altemus
& Co. Books
Although the main imprints used
by Altemus were Henry Altemus and Henry Altemus Company, the Altemus
& Co. imprint can be found on early Bibles from the 1870's,
scrapbooks and photograph albums. The Altemus & Company press
also printed various volumes for groups mostly in and around
Philadelphia. These books were generally produced in small quantities
and are quite scarce.
Examples are The Tenth Annual Report of the Women's Christian
Association of Germantown in 1881, the By-Laws of the Kensington
Hospital for Women in 1867, and a small booklet entitled the Bachelors
Barge Club of Philadelphia. This latter volume published in 1914 is
shown below.
Interestingly enough this small book lists the names of the members of
the Barge Club and when they joined. Henry Altemus Sr.'s four sons, all
who were involved with the publishing Company, were members. Henry Jr.,
Howard, Robert and Roland.
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The Talisman- An Altemus
& Company publication
As is noted above, the Altemus
& Co. imprint can be found on Photographic albums, scrapbooks
and a handful of other publications. Books with this imprint are quite
scarce. Here is an example of a book with the Altemus & Co
imprint. This title was first published by Hogan and Thompson, a
Philadelphia publisher, in 1851.
The date of the Altemus publication is unclear. Based on the use of
this imprint plus the style of the book a date between 1851 and the
1870's is my best guess.
This is definitely the earliest Altemus & Co imprint that I
have seen with exception of some photographic albums.
The book has gold gilt edges and measures 6.5 x 9.5.
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Tenth Annual Report of the
Women's Christian Association (1881)
This 11 page pamphlet was
published by the "Press of Altemus and Co. in 1881. Interestingly
Altemus did not publish any other Annual Reports for this organization.
Pictures courtesy of The
Library Company of Philadelphia. Special thanks to Nicole Joniec.
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Altemus
& Co.: Ledger/ Blank Books
This ledger was published by
Altemus & Co. The exact date cannot be determined but the book
contains information that is dated in 1925. Altemus & Co. was
at the Fourth Street address at that time. The Altemus stamp as shown
below is pasted on the inside front cover of the book. A careful
inspection does not reveal any mention of Altemus on the binding or
anywhere else within the ledger. The ledger is 9.5 x 12. On the spine
the name of the owner is embossed in gold.
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Altemus
& Co.: Blank Book
Here is a 19th century blank
book published by Altemus & Co. This is only the second one
that I have seen.
As is also noted in the previous blank book shown, inside the front
cover is a label indicating Altemus & Co. with catalogue number
and volume identifiers.
This book dates from the 1880's. Altemus was at the 26 South Fourth
Street address at that time. It appears that the 26 S. Fourth Street
address was used mainly for ledgers and blank books while the Market
Street and later the Cherry Street addresses were publishing
Photographic Albums and Bibles.
I want to thank Susan Caughlan from the Worchester Historical Society
for providing these pictures.
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Ledger/Blank Book
Here is another 19th century
ledger published by Altemus and Co. These blank books are incredibly
scarce. The only evidence that it was published by Altemus is the label
that was pasted on the inside front cover. This was also the case with
the other two ledgers/blank books shown on this page.
The Altemus 26 South Fourth Street address indicates a book from the
1880's. This ledger was obviously produced for the Safe Harbor Safe
Deposit Company. It has 440 pages. It is 14 x 9.5.
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Ledger/Blank Book
This ledger is 12" x 6" and has about 150 pages. Some entrees
are dated 1906.
This is the third of these Altemus "Blank books" I have seen.
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Scrapbooks (Newspaper Cuttings)
This 120 page scrapbook is 9.25" x 7.5". It was copyrighted
by Altemus & Co. in 1874.
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Scrapbooks (Newspaper Cuttings)
This large scrapbook (11.25 x
9.25) is similar to the smaller scrapbook above. It has 100 pages for
newspaper cuttings and alphabetized ledger pages as well. This
scrapbook was also copyrighted in 1874.
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