Henry Altemus Company

Non Series #16- Baby's Requirements

Product advertisements in Altemus books are basically unheard of. Leinbach & Bro advertised its clothing store but that was in books that Leinbach gave away.

See: http://henryaltemus.com/ephemera/leinbach.htm. Here is the only example that I know of a product advertisement in an Altemus book. It is bound into the extremely rare 1895 Altemus edition of Baby's Requirements by Elisabeth Robinson Scovil. The book which is 6.25 x 4.5 has a limp leatherette binding.

As you can see, here is an ad for Ivory Soap. It is placed in the back of the book and there are no other ads present. I cannot explain why this ad is in this book.

There is a chapter on bathing infants in the book but it does not mention Ivory Soap.

Pamphlet Advertising for Juvenile Series (1913)

This 32 page advertising pamphlet for Altemus' juvenile series books is exceptionally uncommon. I have seen two such pamphlets (including this one) over the years. This piece is 6.375 x 4.5.

Five boys' juvenile series are highlighted with full page ads that show the book's cover. Four of the five have an excerpt from the book in the pamphlet. Interestingly this pamphlet has a store name, P. B. Magrane Store, stamped on it. Most likely Altemus made these advertising pamphlets available to stores which thereafter could individualize them. Really, an excellent way for Altemus to market its books. What is fascinating is that the store advertised the books for sale at 25 cents even though the price on the books was actually 50 cents. Perhaps the store got a bulk deal on the books or maybe was willing to take less profit per book to get the customer into their store. The P. B. Magrane Store in Lynn, Massachusetts , like most large department stores before the era of free standing book stores (now coming to an end) had a book department. Patrick Byrne Magrane (1852-1933) had immigrated from Ireland. He founded his namesake store in 1876 in Lynn, Mass. The store was still in business in the 1950's.

Non Series #88- A Little Garden Calendar

This two page flyer was found in a Young People's Library-Format 3 book published in 1911-1912. The Little Garden Calendar was first published by Altemus in 1905. There is nothing on the flyer that can help to date it. The price of the book is noted to be $1.00. This was the price that Altemus listed in every ad for the book from 1905 on.

Altemus book published for Montgomery Ward & Co.

In Series #85-Famous Red and White Books (http://henryaltemus.com/series/series85.htm) Uncle Tom's Cabin was book #10. It was published in 1894. A book with the identical cover and contents has been discovered that has Montgomery Ward & Co. as the imprint as opposed to Henry Altemus. The Montgomery Ward book says "Souvenir Edition" at the top of the title page and has Montgomery Ward & Co., with the 111-116 Michigan Avenue, Chicago address at the base of the title page.

The copyright page for both books is identical: Henry Altemus, 1894.

This book undoubtedly was published by Altemus for Montgomery Ward. I suspect it was a promotional item since it does have "Souvenir Edition" printed on the top of the title page. Most likely it was published in the mid-1890's.

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.

Leinbach & Bro. Advertising

Henry Altemus/Altemus & Co. published books for department stores over the years. Altemus published Bibles for Montgomery Ward (see http://www.henryaltemus.com/publications/montward.htm) and Shakespeare's Works for Gusky's, a clothier in Pittsburgh (See http://henryaltemus.com/publications/gusky.htm).

Altemus had a long relationship with Leinbach & Bro. which was a clothier store in Reading, Pennsylvania. As early as 1893 and as late as 1915 Leinbach gave away Altemus books as some sort of promotion (perhaps with the purchase of an item). Most of these books are stamped on the front or back cover with "Compliments of Leinbach & Bro". Within these books are two pages of ads for Leinbach. One ad is bound into the front and one is bound into the back of the book. There are a number of different versions of the ads. Some ads are personalized to the book it is placed in. An example is found in the book "Ifs". The front ad is titled- "Ifs of Clothing". (see below) I have never seen any other company advertisements placed within an Altemus book.

A variety of books and their ads are shown below.

1893

1894

1896

1899

1900 from the book Paul Kruger

1902

1902-1903

1907

From the book "Ifs" - 1907

Post-1907

1909

The "Brief History" ad is similar to the Post-1915 pictures except that there is a different border decoration and the lettering font is different. The "Reasonable Clothing" ad has a different border decoration than the similar post-1915 ad. It is the same however as the ad found in the 1915 book.

1911-1914

1914

1915

Around 1915

Post-1915

Henry Altemus was not the only publishing house to have a relationship with Leinbach & Bro. I have recently discovered two other publishers whose books were given away "compliments of Leinbach & Bro.".

Hurst & Co., a New York publisher, that was active from the early 1870's to 1919 published numerous reprint series as well as many juvenile series in the first and second decade of the 20th century.

Two Hurst books are shown here.

The first is a 1910 book, Little Minister, published within the 108 book Ansonia Series. Although this publisher's series was printed for several years, since the ad states that Leinbach had been active for forty-five years, the book must be from 1910 because the company started in 1865. 1865 + 45 = 1910.

The back of the book ad is the same that was seen in the Altemus books beginning in 1909.

1910

The second Hurst book, Brooks' Addresses is part of the 25 volume Golden Hour Series. Because the front ad notes that Leinbach & Bro. has been active for 46 years, this is therefore a 1911 book. Again the back ad of "Reliable Clothing" is unchanged from the 1909 ad.

1911

I. M. Beaver was a small religious book publishing house located in Reading, Pa. It would seem therefore to be a natural for Leinbach & Bro. advertising.

The ads in this book have not been seen elsewhere. The book is about several people "rambling through Europe". The front ad mentions how the rambling men wore Leinbach clothes in their travels. The back ad is a general information blurb. The back ad notes that Leinbach has been operating for 47 years. Thus -1912 is the year for these ads. Since the book's title page has 1911 at the base. Most likely the ad went into unsold 1911 books.

1912

Leinbach & Bro. was founded by Joseph A. and George A. Leinbach in 1865. The store was located at 851 Penn Street (8th and Penn) in Reading, Pennsylvania. In 1890 Charles Leinbach, a nephew, was also made a named partner. The company incorporated in 1919. Its product line included men's and boys' suits as well as children's clothing. Overcoats are also noted in a number of ads.

Some examples of Leinbach trade cards and other advertising are also shown below.

		1889	1889

Read's Female Poets of America, Third Edition

Read's Female poets of America, Third Edition, published by E. H. Butler in 1850 is reviewed in Sartain's Magazine in 1849. As can be seen, the article notes that Altemus did the ornamental design. Without this article it would be impossible to be sure what company did the binding.

It is of interest that the decorative pattern is very similar to the 1850 Leaflets of Memory (see Altemus bindery page) book also published by E.H. Butler.

Benevolent Order of Elks Bible

There are a number of examples in which Altemus did a small print run of a book for a private organization. This Bible (B60) appears to have been specially made for "The Elks".

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks initials and symbol is engraved in gold gilt on the front of this Bible. There are no other identifying marks on the Bible.

Altemus published Bibles as noted above until the late 1890's. This Bible was published after 1900 given that the Altemus incorporation is indicated on the title page.

This Bible is simpler in substance than most Altemus Bibles. None of the extra features usually seen, i.e. pages for family information, Smith's dictionary, dictionary of names, etc. are included in this book. The cover and spine are different from any 19th century Altemus Bible and are plainer.

Also of note is the change at the bottom of the title page. The usual "and there was light" has been changed to "The Light of the World".

Post-1900 Titlepage

American Circular and Trade Gazette 1859

Montgomery Ward & Co. Publication (Bible)

As has been noted before, Altemus occasionally did publishing for other companies. It did a Shakespeare's Works for Gusky's Department Store. Here is an example of a Bible that was published for Montgomery Ward & Co. The cover is B11 (See: http://henryaltemus.com/bibles/bibles.htm) which was published between 1894 and 1896. It appears that all Altemus did is replace its imprint with that of the department store giant.