Henry Altemus Company

Belles Lettres Series

Here is a nice little advertising piece (5.875 x 3. 375) for the Belles Lettres Series.

It lists 26 volumes in the series at 30 cents each. Since the first 28 volumes were published in 1896, this dates the flyer to 1896.

Shakespeare's Plays

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.

1860 Ad for Book Bindery

Photographic Album

I found a new Altemus photographic advertising card today. All three cards seen here are very similar and yet there are subtle differences between the cards. This card has the familiar eagle on the front but above the eagle there is no writing as in card 2a. Below the ALTEMUS & COs lettering but above the words Photographic Albums, this card has the words Patent Hinge Back as does card 2a but not card 1a. Thus this card is different from the other two cards but not by much.

The reverse of this card is the same as card 2b. The card is 2.375 x 3.875.

The album this card was found in was the typical 1860's to 1890's album. It has 25 pages each of which hold two cards-one on each side. It is 6 x 5.5.

See below.

3a

3b

Good Times Series

Another advertising flyer has been discovered. It is for Series #100- Good Times Series.

This flyer is 8 x 5.5 which is slightly larger than the page size of the actual Good Time Books. It was discovered within a book from the series.

Photographic Album

A new photographic album has been discovered. Although the copyright belongs to Henry Altemus 1888 it was actually published by the Lovell Manufacturing Company in Erie, Pennsylvania. It is unlike any Altemus album that I have seen. The copyright must stem from the use of Altemus' patented binding.

The history of the Lovell Manufacturing Company can be found at http://www.lovellplace.com/history.html in which the authors have written a great summary of the company.

The Album which is called Photo Art Gallery has 16 pages all 8 x 10. Each page can hold one cabinet card on the front and on the back. Surrounding the card on each side are the pictures of famous people in various areas of society. Each page is different and has 10 pictures. (See below) There is an index in the back which alphabetically lists all of the portraits. It does appear that each page has its own specialized area, That is, a presidents' page, an authors' page, a soldiers' page, etc.

The cover is made up of a red velvet material with embossed lettering on the front which says Photo Gallery.

This is indeed a very rare and special album.

Ephemera

This 1884 item printed by Altemus appears to be a promissory note. This "check" is different from previous ones seen as noted by the picture not present on others.

Ephemera

Here is an early check made out by an employee of Altemus & Co. Of interest is a reference seen which referred to J. S. Young and Altemus regarding an 1865 donation to Union causes.

Photographic Albums

Here is another advertising trade card for photographic albums. Its date is unclear since it was not found within a book or album.

Although it is similar to the card above, there are several differences. This card stresses the Hinge-Back nature of the albums with that phrase on both sides. The other card does not mention the Hinge-Back album.

These advertising cards are very scarce.

Non Series #109 Paul and Virginia

This flyer was found in non series book #28 Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. This book was published from 1890 to the late 1890's. The flyer is the same size (10.5 x 6) and of a similar style as the flyers previously described for the Dore's Masterpieces.http://henryaltemus.com/flyers/flyer-S78.htm

This one page advertisement advertises two different Paul and Virginia books that were published between 1891 and 1897. In 1898 the cheaper Paul and Virginia book was published at $1.50 and the $3.00 was discontinued.

As has been noted before, it is my belief that all the early non-series Altemus books were advertised using these flyers. Finding them is another matter.