Henry Altemus Company

Altemus Bindery

The Leaflets of Memory books were published yearly during the 1840's and 1850's. Previously an 1850 book bound by Altemus has been shown. Now from the same series an 1851 book also published by E.H. Butler has been discovered. As with the previous book, there is nothing that indicates the Altemus bindery on the cover. Mr. Altemus is mentioned in the "advertisement" (preface) of the book as the binder.

The 1851 book is the seventh in the series. I do not know how many (if any) other books beside the 1850 and 1851 were bound by Altemus.

Envelope

Here is a pre-1900 Altemus envelope. The Henkel & Co. Printers and Publishers was founded in 1806. It still operates today.

Envelopes

As has been noted, Altemus & Co. continued to produce blank books, ledgers, etc. while they published books (as late as the 1930's). Here are two envelopes with the Fourth Street address. These envelopes are both postmarked in 1932.

Finding these blank books and ledgers is difficult because they are frequently not identified as being the product of the Altemus house.

Salesman Samples

This piece includes the attached covers of three of the six books of the Format 1 Wee Books for Wee Folks Series (#185). No other information about this item exists.

Ephemera

Another receipt for items that were purchased by the Curwensville Bank in 1891. Here is evidence that Altemus produced many non-printed book paper goods. The receipt noted ledgers, collection books, etc.

Non Series #136

This one page flyer was found in a Young People's Library book published in 1906. It is 6 x 3.25. As noted before, I believe that virtually every Altemus book or series had an associated advertising flyer, pamphlet etc. Finding them is another matter.

Here is one for The Tin Diskers.

Ephemera

Even as Altemus became more involved in book publishing, it still sold non-book items. Here is receipt from 1891 in which pens were being sold.

Rose Carnation Series

New Advertising Flyer discovered

This 6 x 3.25 inch one page advertising flyer for the Rose Carnation Series was discovered in the Little Lady Val book (#4). This flyer dates from 1906-1908. It is my belief that Altemus produced flyers for all of their series of this era. They are just very difficult to find.

Non Series #58

These ads appeared in Publishers' Weekly in 1908.

Motor Boat Club Series

This September, 1909 ad notes 3 of the 6 Motor Boat Club Series books that were published in 1909. Generally, when a number of books from the same series are copyrighted in the same year, the thought is that they were all released in one group- a breeder set. Looking at the ad below this does not appear to be the case here. The ad mentions the first three books but not the other three that were also copyrighted in 1909. "Others in preparation for early publication". Thus the first three were published before numbers 4-6. Since this ad is from September, the other books must have been published in the last three months of the year. The first three probably were reprinted at that time.

This may be why the jacket without any red color is very rare. That is, the first three books were published first with the "no red color" jacket and shortly thereafter the first six books were published with the later Format 1 dust jacket. See below for the pictures of these jackets.