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Shakespeares's Plays (Series
164)
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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