Henry Altemus Company

Juvenile Series Ad- 1920 (Series #1-34)

This flyer advertises various Boys' and Girls' Series books. Interestingly the latest book is the shown is the Pony Riders Boys with the Texas Rangers which is a 1920 book. Other series do not show books that were published in the late teens. For instance, the College Girls Series (#9) lists 4 books the latest of which was published in 1914 but does not list the 1915 book.

Usually Altemus advertising would show all the series up to a certain date and there would not be this disparity in the books listed and not listed. Nonetheless this flyer must date from 1920 based on the book listed.

The flyer has 4 panels per side and is 13 x 6.25.

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.

Altemus Bindery

Here is another example from the Altemus bindery. This book, Christmas Blossoms and New Year's Wreath from 1849 by Uncle Thomas, was published by E.H. Butler & Co. As can be seen, the words Altemus Binder are engraved at the bottom of the book within the gilt pattern.

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.

Altemus Bindery

Here is an example of the Altemus book bindery. This book, The Poetical Works of Rogers, Campbell, J. Montgomery, Lamb Kirke White was published by Grigg & Elliot, a Philadelphia company, in 1847. If you look very closely at the top of the book's front cover, you can see the words J. T. Altemus ...Binder Philad. This shows again the difficulty of finding Altemus bindings in the 1840's and 1850's.

Altemus Bindery

The Leaflets of Memory books were published yearly during the 1840's and 1850's. Previously an 1850 book bound by Altemus has been shown. Now from the same series an 1851 book also published by E.H. Butler has been discovered. As with the previous book, there is nothing that indicates the Altemus bindery on the cover. Mr. Altemus is mentioned in the "advertisement" (preface) of the book as the binder.

The 1851 book is the seventh in the series. I do not know how many (if any) other books beside the 1850 and 1851 were bound by Altemus.

Envelope

Here is a pre-1900 Altemus envelope. The Henkel & Co. Printers and Publishers was founded in 1806. It still operates today.

Envelopes

As has been noted, Altemus & Co. continued to produce blank books, ledgers, etc. while they published books (as late as the 1930's). Here are two envelopes with the Fourth Street address. These envelopes are both postmarked in 1932.

Finding these blank books and ledgers is difficult because they are frequently not identified as being the product of the Altemus house.

Altemus Bindery

Here is an 1850 example. This book published by E. H. Butler & Co. cites Mr. Altemus as the executor of the embellished binding.

Salesman Samples

This piece includes the attached covers of three of the six books of the Format 1 Wee Books for Wee Folks Series (#185). No other information about this item exists.