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Dore
Masterpieces (Series 78)
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.
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