|
Series
Name:
Publish Dates:
Topic: |
Dore's
Masterpieces Series
1889 - 1903
Varied reprint editions |
Series
Number:
Volumes:
Formats: |
78
6
6 |
|
Title: |
Author: |
Year: |
Illustrator: |
| 1 |
Dore Bible Gallery |
Anonymous |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 2 |
Milton's Paradise Lost |
Milton, John |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 3 |
Dante's Inferno |
Cary, Henry |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 4 |
Dante's Purgatory and Paradise |
Cary, Henry |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 5 |
Tennyson's Idylls of the King |
Tennyson, Alfred Lord |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 6 |
Rime of the Ancient Mariner |
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 7 |
Die Dore Bibel Gallerie |
Anonymous |
1892 |
Dore, Gustave |
Henry
Altemus Format:
1 Volumes: 1 - 4, 7
Extra fine English cloth seen in various colors.
Emblematic designs. Full Gilt. Gold edges. 9.75 x 12.
Boxed. This format was published throughout the life of
the series (1889-1903).
Henry Altemus Format:
2 Volumes: 1 - 4, 7
Full Morocco. This morocco can be seen with the emblematic
design or blindstamped with gold gilt lettering. Gold
edges, 9.75 x 12. Boxed. Published between 1889-1901.
Henry Altemus Format:
3 Volumes: 5 - 6
As in format 1 except 11 x 14.5. Boxed.
Henry Altemus Format:
4 Volumes: 5 - 6
Full Morocco. Gold gilt edges. Boxed. 11 x 14.5. This
format was published between 1889 and 1893.
Henry Altemus Format:
5 Volumes: 1 - 7
Half vellum with gold gilt decorative pattern. The right
half of the cover is plain in red, blue, brown or green
and Dore's name in gold gilt. Red canvas dust jacket.
9.75" x 12" and 11" x 14.5". This format was seen
beginning in 1892.
Henry Altemus Format:
6 Volumes: 1 - 4
Fine bullion silk binding. Padded sides, round corners,
satin ribbons stamped in gold. Gold edges. 9.75 x 12.
Called the Presentation Edition. These were published in
1889.
Series Notes:
1. Books #1-6 were all published by Altemus for the first
time in mid-1889. Only books 5 & 6 actually have a
listed copyright date of 1889 in the book. The other books
have no dates.
2. Book #7 is a German translation of #1. It was only
published between 1892-1901.
3. The books were first called Dore's Masterpieces in
1898. Prior to that the books were advertised together and
were of similar formats but not grouped as an official
series.
4. A variant of Format 5 has red not white vellum on the
left. See picture below.
5. These books were extremely expensive when first
published. See advertisements.
6. For a wonderful review of Gustave Dore see- Gustave
Dore by Dan Malan, Malan Classical Enterprises, St. Louis,
Missouri, 1995. |
Format
1 #1
|
Format
1 #1
|
 
Format
1 #1
|
 
Format
1 #1- variant
|
| |
Format
1 #2
|
Format
1 #2
|
Format
1 #2
|
Format
1 #2
|
| |
Format
1 #2
|
Format
1 #2
|
Format
1 #3
|
Format
1 #3
|
| |
Format
1 #4
|
Format
1 #7
|
Format
1 Back Cover-earliest
|
Format
1 Back Cover-earlier
|
| |
Format
1 Back Cover-later
|
Three different patterns have been seen on the
back cover of this format's books. It is clear
that the book that has the embossed cover (yellow)
which matches the front cover is the earliest
edition (1889-1890). The decorative pattern came
next and finally the embossed H/A was on later
books.
|
| |
Format
2 #1
|
Format
2 #2
|
Format
2 #3
|
Format
2 #3
|
| |
Format
3 #5
|
Format
3 #6
|
Format
3 #6
|
 
Format
3 #6 Box Cover
|
| |
Format
4 #5
|
Format
5 #1
|
Format
5 #1
|
Format
5 #1
|
| |
Format
5 #2
|
Format
5 #2 Variant
|
Format
5 #2 Variant
|
Format
5 #2 Variant
|
| |
Format
5 #3
|
Format
5 #3
|
Format
5 #3 Variant
|
Format
5 #4
|
| |
Format
5 #4
|
Format
5 #4 Variant
|
Format
5 #5
|
Format
5 #5 Variant
|
| |
Format
5 Dust Jacket
|
Format
6 #1
|
Format
6 #3
|
|
Salesman
Dummy Book
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. |
Salesman
Dummy Book
This sample book is from the early 1890's. The door to
door publisher's representative 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 of these books. The addresses are all in the
northern California area (Sacramento, Stockton, etc.)
|
|
Advertising
Cover - 1890
This is a very rare Altemus advertising cover from
1890. In 1889 Altemus published the six titles of the
Dore's Masterpieces Series. All six oversized volumes
were published until 1903 in a number of different
formats. Because of the beautiful Gustave Dore
illustrations, these books are always in great demand
and sell for a premium.
This advertising cover pictures Format 1- Volume 1 in
the series. The other books are listed at the top of
the envelope. Die Dore Bibel Gallerie is a German
translation of Volume #1 and was included in this
series beginning in 1892. (Thus, at that point there
were seven titles in the series.)
In my opinion this is one of the rarest pieces of
Altemus ephemera.
|
Dore Masterpieces'
Advertising
Most of the 7 books which comprise the Dore Masterpieces
Series have been found with advertising flyers within
them. This was not uncommon for Altemus books in this era.
I have seen Dore flyers in several different styles.
1. Single page one sided flyers. There exist single
advertising sheets for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and
Idylls of the King. These are 10.5 x 6.
2. Single sheet - two sided ads. This ad includes the 6
Dore Masterpieces and has Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress. This
ad does not list the presentation editions and thus was
from 1892 or later. They are 6.25 x 5.
3. Two 4 sided pamphlets have been seen. They list the
same books-The Dore Bible Gallery, Paradise Lost, Dante's
Inferno and Dante's Purgatory and Paradise. They both note
the presentation editions. There are two differences: at
the top of each page one says- NEW EDITION whereas the
other states-ALTEMUS' EDITION. The other difference is
that the extra fine English Cloth books are priced at
$4.00 in the former ads and $6.00 in the latter ads.
Although one would assume that the higher price would
signify a later date, there are no advertisements that
ever showed the English Cloth book listed at $6.00. Thus,
the ads can be assumed to be early in the publication
history of these books but they cannot be dated precisely.
Examples of pages are shown below.
4. One advertising flyer has been seen that has 8 panels.
It includes all 7 of the Dore Masterpiece Books as well as
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Interestingly, the heading at
the top of each page says either "new edition" or "Altemus
edition". Books #1-4 are listed as Altemus Editions and
they have the $6.00 price. Thus this flyer is of the same
vintage as the ad #3 above that said Altemus Edition. The
ads for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Idylls of the
King are identical to the single sheet ads.
|
Dore Masterpieces Flyer
This sheet was found in the book of the same name. This ad
is identical to the Altemus catalogue listing except for
the last paragraph which is not found in the catalogues.
This broadside was used by Altemus from 1889 until the mid
1890s. Similar sheets have been seen for other Altemus
Dore illustrated books.
|
Publishers' Weekly Advertising
This full page ad which appeared in the Publishers' Weekly
in September 1892 shows how Henry Altemus was starting to
move away from concentrating on Bibles and more towards
books for reading. The Bibles which were previously given
top billing in the ads are now at the bottom of this full
page ad.
The Dore Masterpieces (Series # 78) are noted with a
format 5 book pictured. This is proof positive that this
format was published by late 1892.
Also pictured is a copy of A Child's History of England.
The four books listed as New Editions were among the very
first reading type books that Altemus published. The
various editions were deluxe and very expensive for the
time.
|
|
