Henry Altemus Company - Children of the Bible Series 63

Series Name:
Publish Dates:
Topic:

Children of the Bible Series
1905 - 1905
Religious

Series Number:
Volumes:
Formats:

63
10
5

	Title:	Author:	Year:	Illustrator:
1	Boy Who Obeyed	Willard, J. H.	1905	Anonymous
2	Farmer Boy	Willard, J. H.	1905	Anonymous
3	Favorite Son	Willard, J. H.	1905	Anonymous
4	Adopted Son	Willard, J. H.	1905	Anonymous
5	Boy General	Willard, J. H.	1905	Anonymous
6	Boy at School	Willard, J. H.	1905	Anonymous
7	Shepherd Boy	Willard, J. H.	1905	Anonymous
8	Boy Who Would Be King	Willard, J. H.	1905	Anonymous
9	Captive Boy	Willard, J. H.	1905	Anonymous
10	Boy Jesus	Willard, J. H.	1905	Anonymous

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 1      Volumes: 1 - 10
Cloth. Half vellum with a gold pattern of leaves, spirals, and circles. Within the vellum are rectangles with the book name and the series name. On the right is an illuminated multicolor pictorial picture representing a biblical scene. Above and below the picture there are a number of interlocking circles. End papers have a floral pattern. In the earlier books it is orange. In the later books(by 1907) it is black. In the latest books of this format the end papers are plain. Some of the black end papered books have a variant vellum that has no pattern on it (Format #1a). The uncoated brown (occasionally grayish) dust jacket has an unusual plant on the left side. (This is the same as the vellum in the later books. I am calling this "alien plant vellum".) The latest books have the same dust jacket as seen in the Format #2 books. 7.25 x 5.

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 2      Volumes: 1 - 10
Cloth. Half vellum as in Format #1. The right half of these books have an illuminated multicolored picture. Above and below the pictures is a floral pattern. ( This distinguishes these books from the previous books.) Dust jacket is brown uncoated picturing a woman sitting on a rock playing a harp. (Most copies of this picture are faded such that the s of the harp cannot be seen.) 7.25 x 5.

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 3      Volumes: 1 - 10
Cloth. Vellum described as alien plant. The earlier books have a flower pictured on the cover. The later books have a rectangle within which there is an idyllic scene (Format 3a). The dust jacket is white coated with the same harp playing women who is on the dust jacket of Format #2. Later in this format the rectangle covers have the Format 5 dust jacket. 7.25 x 5.

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 4      Volumes: 1 - 10
Cloth. Alien plant vellum with a grey and blue pattern of tiny flowers. The dust jacket is the same as in Format #5. 7.25 x 5.

Henry Altemus Company      Format: 5      Volumes: 1 - 10
Cloth. Centrally placed book appropriate multicolored line drawn applique surrounded by a black and white scene of a biblical era city. The title is lettered across the top of the cover in a rectangle. Dust jacket matches the book cover. 7.25 x 5.

Series Notes:
1. There are some later books of Format 1 seen with the harp playing lady jacket of Format 2.
2. The illuminated picture covers of Format #1 and Format #2 are different. In Format #1 there have been 10 different pictures seen. The earlier books have matching covers and frontispieces. The later ones sometimes do not.
3. The illuminated picture covers of Format #2 are different from those seen in Format #1. Eight different pictures have been identified. They appear randomly on the books of the series.
4. In Format #3 there are 4 different scenes within the rectangles. 4 different flowers have been seen up to this time.
5. The flowers and rectangular idyllic scenes of Format #3 are randomly placed on the ten titles of the series. Thus, in Format #3 there are 40 different books with the rectangular idyllic scenes.
6. Series #45- Beautiful Stories Series has the identical formats.
7. These books were published until

The 18 pictures from Formats #1 and #2 are arbitrarily described and numbered below to make describing these books a bit easier.

Children of the Bible Covers-First Format
1. Boy carrying wood
2. Tent
3. Holding boy in white
4. Moses
5. Man on white horse
6. King with scroll on throne
7. Man on ground/killed by sword
8. Man on brown horse
9. Lions
10. Boy in front of tunnel

Children of the Bible-Second Format
1. 11. Buglers
2. 12. Two sitting women/harp
3. 13. Standing king in yellow garb
4. 14. Scabbard, sword and shield on post
5. 15. Lady in red with wheat
6. 16. Hiding in cave
7. 17. Pointing man with cane
8. 18. Three women with an angel.

Format 1 Dust Jacket	Format 1 DJ Variant	Format 1 #1	Format 1 #2

Format 1 #3	Format 1 #4	Format 1 #5	Format 1 #5 Variant

Format 1 #6	Format 1 #7	Format 1 #8	Format 1 #9

Format 1 #9 (later)	Format 1 #10	Format 1a #1	Format 1a #2

Format 1a #3	Format 1a #4	Format 1a #5	Format 1a #6

Format 1a #7	Format 1a #8	Format 1a #9	Format 1a #10

Format 2 Dust Jacket	Format 2 #1	Format 2 #1 variant	Format 2 #2

Format 2 #2 Variant	Format 2 #3	Format 2 #4	Format 2 #4 Variant

Format 2 #5	Format 2 #6	Format 2 #6 Variant	Format 2 #7

Format 2 #7 Variant	Format 3 Dust Jacket	Format 3 Style #1	Format 3 Style #1 (variant)

Format 3 Style #2	Format 3 Style #3	Format 3a Style #1	Format 3a Style #2

Format 3a Style #3	Format 3a Style #4	Format 4	Format 5 #1

Format 5 #2	Format 5 #3	Format 5 #4	Format 5 #5

Format 5 #6	Format 5 #7	Format 5 #8	Format 5 #9

Format 5 #10

Advertising Flyer

A wonderful 2 page pamphlet advertising the 10 books of the Children of the Bible Series has been discovered within a Series #137 book (One Syllable Series). This advertisement, as shown below, lists the titles and includes some pictures that are found in several of the books. It is unclear as to the exact date of this piece. The half vellum books were published for a number of years beginning in 1905. The catalogue lists 25 cents as the book price until the teens although the books themselves list 25 cents as well as 50 cents during this era.

I would guess 1905-1912 date.

Advertisements like this probably exist for most Altemus series of the early 1900s and teens. They are exceedingly scarce.