Henry Altemus Company

 

Series 164 - Shakespeare's Plays


 
 
Series Name:
Publish Dates:
Topic:
Shakespeare's Plays
1899 - 1933
Shakespeare
Series Number:
Volumes:
Formats:
164
39
3

 


Title: Author: Year: Illustrator:
1 All's Well that Ends Well Shakespeare, William  
2 Antony and Cleopatra Shakespeare, William  
3 Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare, William  
4 As You Like It Shakespeare, William  
5 Comedy of Errors Shakespeare, William  
6 Coriolanus Shakespeare, William  
7 Cymbeline Shakespeare, William  
8 Hamlet Shakespeare, William  
9 Julius Caesar Shakespeare, William  
10 King Henry IV (Part I) Shakespeare, William  
11 King Henry IV (Part II) Shakespeare, William  
12 King Henry V Shakespeare, William  
13 King Henry VI (Part I) Shakespeare, William  
14 King Henry VI (Part II) Shakespeare, William  
15 King Henry VI (Part III) Shakespeare, William  
16 King Henry VIII Shakespeare, William  
17 King John Shakespeare, William  
18 King Lear Shakespeare, William  
19 King Richard II Shakespeare, William  
20 King Richard III Shakespeare, William  
21 Love's Labour's Lost Shakespeare, William  
22 Macbeth Shakespeare, William  
23 Measure for Measure Shakespeare, William  
24 Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare, William  
25 Othello Shakespeare, William  
26 Pericles Shakespeare, William  
27 Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare, William  
28 Merchant of Venice Shakespeare, William  
29 Merry Wives of Windsor Shakespeare, William  
30 Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare, William  
31 Tempest Shakespeare, William  
32 Two Gentlemen of Verona Shakespeare, William  
33 Winter's Tale Shakespeare, William  
34 Timon of Athens Shakespeare, William  
35 Titus Andronicus Shakespeare, William  
36 Troilus and Cressida Shakespeare, William  
37 Twelfth Night Shakespeare, William  
38 Venus and Adonis and Lucrece Shakespeare, William  
39 Sonnets, Passionate Pilgrim etc. Shakespeare, William  

 

Henry Altemus       Format: 1      Volumes: 1 - 39
Limp burgundy cloth binding. Gold gilt cover emblem and gold gilt top. Decorated end papers. (1899 books) 5.5 x 4.5

Henry Altemus      Format: 2      Volumes: 1 - 39
Burgundy cover. Paste grain roan. Flexible binding. Gold gilt cover emblem and gold gilt top. Decorated end papers. (1899 books) 5.5 x 4.5

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 3      Volumes: 1 - 39
Limp burgundy cloth binding. Gold gilt cover emblem and gold gilt top. Decorated end papers. (1900-1902 books) 5.5 x 4.5

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 4      Volumes: 1 - 39
Burgundy cover. Paste grain roan. Flexible binding. Gold gilt cover emblem and gold gilt top. Decorated end papers. (1900-1902 books) 5.5 x 4.5

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 5      Volumes: 1 - 39
Burgundy cloth cover. Gold top. Gold gilt emblem on the cover. Decorated end papers. (1903-1905) 5.5 x 4.5

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 6      Volumes: 1 - 39
Burgundy full limp leather. Gold top. Decorated end papers 5.5 x 4.5

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 7      Volumes: 1 - 39
Burgundy cloth cover. The earlier books have decorated end papers and a red lettered glossy title page. The later books have decorated endpapers and black lettered non-glossy title pages and the latest books have plain endpapers and black lettered non-glossy title pages. No gold gilt on cover or top. 5.5 x 4.5 (1906-1933)

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 8      Volumes: 1 - 39
Burgundy limp leather. No gold gilt on cover or top. Plain end papers. 5.5 x 4.5

Series Notes:
1. Two 39 book boxed sets have been seen. An early one (1899-1902) with the paste-grain roan books and a later 1909 set with the cloth bound and leather books.
2. A boxed set of cloth books cost $13.65 in 1909. The leather bound book boxed set was priced at $19.50.

 

Format 1, 3, 5

Format 2, 4, 6

Format 7

Format 8

 

Format 1, 2 Title Page

Formats 3-early 7 Title Page

Formats 7 (late)-8 Title Page

Formats 1-4 Dust Jacket

 

1899 Dust Jacket

1900-1908 Dust Jacket

 

1909 and later Dust Jacket

Endpaper

 

1899-1902 Boxed Set

 

An early previously unknown boxed set for this series is shown here. This 39 volume boxed set contains the paste-grain roan editions of these books. The box is 6" x 4.5" x 22". This set is not noted in any Altemus catalogues or advertisements.

The book formats (2 and 4) were published between 1899 and 1902. I suspect just as with the later boxed set, there were no dust jackets on any of the boxed set books.

Note the label on the box indicates the publisher is Henry Altemus not Henry Altemus Company. The books are a mix between those with Henry Altemus on the title page and Henry Altemus Company on the title page.

Thus it appears that this set was published between 1899 and 1902.

 

 

1909 Boxed Set

 

In 1909 the complete 39 title set was sold in one of two sets. Leather bound or cloth bound books. These boxed sets are incredibly difficult to find because of their size and weight. The box shown here is 6 x 4.5 x 22. It was originally purchased on 12/23/1909. The volumes within it are Format 7 books (see above) with blank endpapers.

None of the books have dust jackets and my suspicion is that the books within the boxed set never had them. Many of the volumes in my set were pristine and it appeared that they had never been opened.

Interestingly even in 1909 there were bargains. The original buyer left a note on the box that stated that the set was purchased for $3.00 (not the list price of $13.50).

 

 

Advertising Flyer

 

In the early 1900’s department stores were a popular place to buy books. Most large stores had impressive book departments. I remember even as late as the 1950’s in my hometown of Milwaukee Gimbels, The Boston Store and Schusters had these departments.

Here is a fascinating ephemera piece.

 

The Shakespeare Series (#164) was a 39 volume set published from 1899 until Altemus went out of business in 1933. The books were sold separately as well as by the set. Boxed sets were sold beginning in 1909. As of the date of this flyer in 1907 the hard cover books sold for 35 cents while the soft leather ones sold for 50 cents.

One of the things that I have noticed over the years is how common these books are. I am asked questions about this series almost as often as I am about any Altemus books. The only reasonable explanation is that they were a giant selling success for Altemus. Perhaps this flyer helps us understand a bit.

Here is a department store from Rochester (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibley's) that is offering quite a deal. Sibley’s offers 27 volumes of this series at 15 cents each i.e. 56% off the retail price. This is on some payment plan that is not elucidated by the flyer but when the payments are done, the remaining 12 books are given to the buyer for no additional cost. This is a great deal. Effectively that is selling the whole set for $4.05 -a bit more than a dime per book.

The reverse side of the flyer allows the purchaser to select which 27 titles he wants.

This flyer which is 7.75 x 3.75 was found in a copy of one of the Shakespeare’s books. This is the only flyer I have seen that mentions Altemus books which was not an Altemus publication.

 

 

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Last Revision: October 18, 2015