Henry Altemus Company

Stories from History Series

In a May 12, 2007 entry to this section I noted the how some of the books (27 to be exact) of the Young People's Library splintered off in 1911 and became Series #170. In 1915 Series #170 deleted non Jacob Abbott books to become Series #35- Abbott's Historical Series. The books of both of these series are uncommon. In fact, I had never been sure I had seen a book from series #170 until today.

But today I realized that I had overlooked something. Although the interior of the book gives few clues to its series identity, the back ads list the Young People's LIbrary as well as the Stories from History. This in retrospect should have been a giveaway. If the title of the book is in series #170 and the ads in the back list the books from Series #170, then the book is part of Series #170.

The example is this book. Christopher Columbus was part of the Young People's Library initially. But by the time the Stories from History ads appear (1911), the Columbus book is in that series (#170) not the Young People's Library Series #202). The book below has the #170 ads in the back. Thus, that is where it belongs.

Of course the best indicator of which series it is a member of is clear. On the back of the jacket is a list of the 27 books of Series #170.

By the way, the size of Series #170's books is the same as Series 202's but different from Series #35 which evolved from the former series in 1915.

Vademecum Series (later numbering)

Beginning in 1917 the Vademecum Series listed the included books in the series by category rather than in alphabetical order. Also starting at that time the books of this series were jacketed rather than boxed. Here is a 1917 book. This style was used until the 1920s. Included are pictures of the jacket. The interior of the jacket lists boys and girls series books up to 1917.

Vademecum Series - More Alphonse Mucha and Altemus

A previous update on November 26, 2005 reviewed a Petit Trianon Series format that had illustrations by the Czech artist Mucha on the cover.

A new Mucha painting has been discovered on a Vademecum Series cover. Until recently it was felt that the 1901 Vademecum Series books has only scenic illustrations from European artists in the rectangle on the front cover. Altemus used a series of paintings randomly on the Vademecum books between 1901 and 1907. The pictures were placed within different front cover patterns on the books of these years. So far 34 different paintings have been discovered. Now a book has been discovered in the 1901 Vademecum Series that did not have a painting of scenery but rather has an Alphonse Mucha painting.

The painting is entitled Winter and was from his The Seasons Series. It was painted in 1896.

It is possible that other non scenery paintings were used by Altemus. These as of yet are undiscovered. The Mucha cover is shown here with an example of a more typical cover.

Vademecum Series and Alphonse Mucha continued

As noted in this section on April 21, 2007 a new Alphonse Mucha painting was discovered on the applique of a 1901 Vademecum Series book. That picture was from The Seasons Series painted in 1896 by Alphonse Mucha, the Czechoslavakian artist. It was entitled Winter. The series consisted of 4 pictures, one for each season.

Now the picture Spring has been discovered on another 1901 Vademecum book. At this point in time it is reasonable to presume that the other two pictures from The Seasons Series will be discovered.

Vademecum Series (later numbering)

This book has an applique which is from an Alphonse Mucha painting called Summer. Originally it was part of a set of paintings called The Seasons Series. With the discovery of this painting three of the four "Seasons" have been seen as appliques on this 1901 Vademecum Series book. The other pictures are also shown below.

Wee Books for Wee Folks

Under Format 3, Little Miss Duck was authored by A.E.H. In the bibliography it lists the author as anonymous.

Wee Books for Wee Folks & Wee Folks Peter Rabbit Series

Early Peter Rabbit books were part of the Wee Books for Wee Folks Series. It is generally thought that as of 1917 [when three new Peter Rabbit books were introduced] that they joined with the first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, to make up the first 4 volumes of the Wee Folks Peter Rabbit Series. There is now evidence that this is not correct. In fact it appears that the second through fourth books (Went to Sea, At the Farm, and Christmas) initially were all part of the Wee Books for Wee Folks Series (#186).

These four books at first all had Wee Books for Wee Folk's on top of their title pages. It seems that they were only part of the Wee Folks Series in 1917. Books published in 1918 which were part of the Wee Books for Wee Folks Series list these four books as part of the Wee Folks Peter Rabbit Series.

Remember that the cover lettering on all the 1917-1921 Wee Books was yellow (Except Peter Rabbit's Christmas and the Night Before Christmas which were red).

Variant of Format 1 book discovered for Young People’s Library

The Young People’s Library was Altemus’ longest running series. Each of the 4 formats are generally easily distinguished by their characteristic spine pattern. Format 1 was published from 1895 into 1898. A book without the characteristic spine has been discovered.

As is noted in the section on the Young People’s Library, within certain formats there is occasionally a cover picture change. Numerous examples are seen in the picture section.

An early 1896 edition of the book, Mother Goose Rhymes Jingles and Fairy Tales not only has a cover picture change but also does not have the typical spine found in the format 1 books in the book of the same title published later in 1896. The earlier book has the publication date at the base of the title page which the later book does not.

What is even more interesting is that the earlier book has an additonal 86 pages of text. The text in those pages is exactly the same as are found in the Young People’s Library Arabian Nights published one year later in 1897.

This book can be seen in the new picture section.

Young People's Library

Except for the book noted here, all of the books in this format that I have seen have had pictorial book appropriate line drawn pictures on the cover of the book. The book noted here is of a 1913-1914 vintage of format 3 and has the entire front cover encompassed by a book appropriate line drawn applique. The picture is identical (except for colors) to the Gulliver's Travels seen in format 2. The appliques of format 4 do not fill the entire cover. Although it is possible that are are other format 3 books that are similar to this one, those books would also be distinctly rare.

Young People's Library

Format 2. Volume #31 which is listed as Great Sea Fights of the World appears also to be titled Sea Kings and Naval Heroes. It is unclear if the former title was ever more than a subtitle for the book. This book was only published in 1900 and perhaps early in 1901. Thereafter until 1907, #31 was Vic, the Autobiography of a Fox-Terrier.