Henry Altemus Company

Questions & Answers

Home

History
Contact the Expert
 
Altemus Topics
Juvenile Series

Peter Rabbit

Peter Rabbit First Edition

Alice in Wonderland

Publishers Series
Vademecum Series/ European Artists

Wee Books

Young People's Library
Altemus Bibles
(German Bibles)
Photographic Albums
Altemus Series List
Unknown Series
Non Series Books with List
Date/Identify Books
Ephemera/ Advertisements/ Miscellaneous Publications
New! Reprints by Other Publishers
 
Search
by Title (or Misc):
by Author or Illustrator:
by Series Name or Number:
 
Ebay/ABE
Description Errors
Altemus Book Prices
 
Photo Gallery
New Pictures
 
About
Updates, Addenda & Errata
Altemus Q & A
 
References
Series Biblio
Altemus Biblio
 
Other Sites
Jacob Abbott
Timothy Shay Arthur
Tom Brown Books
Hezekiah Butterworth
Donohue, Henneberry and Co.
F. M. Lupton/ Federal Book Company
George W. Peck
Thomas Mayne Reid
E. A. Weeks
Wayne Whipple
19th Century Juveniles
Juvenile Travelogue Series
 

 

View by Date View by Series Num

 

The following are questions submitted via email by our visitors.

If you have a question about Altemus books that you'd like answered please click on the Questions link at the bottom left of this page.

We recommend that those inquiring about the identification of a particular book format send pictures along with their question.

 

Click thumbnail images to enlarge.

 

Questions & Answers:
Date Series Num Information
21 Dec 2017 163

Sanspareil Series

Q:  A Wonder Book. Nathaniel Hawthorne. Illustrated. No publication date. Inscribed with Mary Brooks signature, class of Reduman S. S. Ephiphany 1900. Miss Banks Class.

A:  Your book was published in 1899 as part of the Sanspareil Series. This is the cover pattern for all of the 110 titles of this year. All of the volumes are reprints.
Henry Altemus Company - Sanspareil Series 163
The covers have been seen in several colors and originally this book came with a dust jacket. See here.


21 Dec 2014 163

Sanspareil Series

Q:  I just received this copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Louis Carroll and I am struggling to find any clues to the origins I'd this book (such as the age, series, or worth) and I was hoping you could give me some insight, I saw a copy of Black Beauty on Amazon with the same hard cover but neither have a dust cover so although I know is published by Altemus I don't know which copy this is.

A:  Your book is part of the Sanspareil Series and was published in 1899. It originally came with a dust jacket.

During this year, a number of different color covers were published. Some of these in addition to a representative dust jacket picture are shown on the series page.

There are quite a few "Alice" collectors. The Altemus Alice books that have a picture on the cover seem to sell for much higher prices than the publisher's series Alice's. Thus, unless you find a collector that just has to have this format, your book will probably not sell for very much.


05 Apr 2014 163

Sanspareil Series

Q:  Hello there Sir, so I'm a fairly novice book collector and recently my uncle passed and left me this beautiful Altemus book of Weird Tales. It looks like one of the later series of reprints but the 1895 copyright page confused me. Is that because when they reprinted they reprint everything including the original copyright page? Anyways any help identifying would be appreciated, thanks!

A:  This book was published in 1899 as part of the Sanspareil Series. It originally came with a dust jacket, an example of which is shown here. All the books in this series are reprints.

The 1895 on the Altemus copyright page indicates either when this title was first published by Altemus or when this edition was first published by Altemus. Unfortunately this can make it difficult to know what you have in terms of whether your book is a reprint or an actual first edition. The publisher's series' titles that Altemus published are all reprints. This includes your book.


07 May 2012 163

Sanspareil Series

Q:  I just purchased this book at a vintage book shop. There is no date that I can find in the book and I am curious as to when it's from.

A:  Your book is from the Sanspareil Series (../series/series163.htm) and was published in 1899. It was part of this large publisher's series of reprints. During this year there were a number of different cover colors. The books of this series originally came with a dust jacket. A sample is shown below.

Because the books are all reprints, they have little value.


03 Jan 2012 163

Sanspareil Series

Q:  I would like to know what series this book is or any information you can give me on this book? It's copyright date is 1895 and titled Poe's Poems. Value?

A:  Your book was published in 1899 as part of the Sanspareil Series.

See ../series/series163.htm.

It is a reprint and generally sells for only a few dollars. There are a number of Poe collectors that sometimes however will pay more than I think the book is worth.


01 Jan 2012 163

Sanspareil Series

Q:  Can u tell me anything about this book (Black Beauty)? there are only 4 illustrations. the only color page is opposite the author page. no date. engraved cover.

A:  Your book is from the Sanspareil Series and was published in 1899. This is a publisher's series of reprints. It consists mainly of fiction, poetry, essays, etc. It originally came with a dust jacket.

See ../series/series163.htm

Since the books of this series are all reprints, except for a few special well collected titles, their value is only nominal.


25 Apr 2010 163

Sanspareil Series

Q:  Hi - My mother recently gave my 7 year old the attached book. He is very fond of it and carries it everywhere. I am worried that it may be more valuable than she readily is aware and should be reshelved. Could you possibly take a look and let me know the history in regards the book?

A:  Your book was published in 1899 as part of the Sanspareil Series.
See Series 163

It only has nominal value so carrying it around won't hurt its value.


07 Apr 2010 163

Sanspareil Series

Q:  I am wondering if you can help me establish the value of Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “Autocrat of the Breakfast Table” published by Altemus in 1899 as a part of the Sanspareil Series (later numbering).

Cover from your own website (below) matches the cover of the copy I have.


A:  Although you have a nice book, it generally does not sell for more than a few dollars. Generally speaking, unless the title is in great demand (not here), these publisher's series reprints without original boxes or dust jackets have little value.

For more on this series see Sanspareil Series


15 Sep 2007 163

Sanspareil Series

Q:  Good evening,

I have a very nice hardbound copy of Black Beauty published by Henry Altemus Philadelphia. I am attaching a picture of the book--beautiful cover.

Can you help my by telling me the approximate date of publication on this book????


A:  Your book is part of the multivolume, multiauthored publisher's series called the Sanspareil Series. This series was published in 1898 and 1899. Your book was published in 1899. It originally had a dust jacket.


14 Sep 2018 164

Shakespeare's Plays

Q:  I have a number of Shakespeare plays published by your company, the attached being one of them (As You Like It). Can you tell me anything about this one, especially the date? I believe they were all purchased around the same time and have identical cloth covers. Thank you!

A:  Your books were published between 1906-1933. They are Format 7 in the Shakespeare’s Plays Series.

See: http://henryaltemus.com/series/series164.htm

This is the most commonly seen format in a very common series.

There is nothing that distinguishes the books in this format regarding actual date of publication.


back 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 
35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 
67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 
99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 next

Webmaster: webadm@henryaltemus.com   (Technical Help Only)

Last Revision: March 28, 2024