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Altemus
& Co. Books
Although the main imprints used
by Altemus were Henry Altemus and Henry Altemus Company, the Altemus
& Co. imprint can be found on early Bibles from the 1870's,
scrapbooks and photograph albums. The Altemus & Company press
also printed various volumes for groups mostly in and around
Philadelphia. These books were generally produced in small quantities
and are quite scarce.
Examples are The Tenth Annual Report of the Women's Christian
Association of Germantown in 1881, the By-Laws of the Kensington
Hospital for Women in 1867, and a small booklet entitled the Bachelors
Barge Club of Philadelphia. This latter volume published in 1914 is
shown below.
Interestingly enough this small book lists the names of the members of
the Barge Club and when they joined. Henry Altemus Sr.'s four sons, all
who were involved with the publishing Company, were members. Henry Jr.,
Howard, Robert and Roland.
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The Talisman- An Altemus
& Company publication
As is noted above, the Altemus
& Co. imprint can be found on Photographic albums, scrapbooks
and a handful of other publications. Books with this imprint are quite
scarce. Here is an example of a book with the Altemus & Co
imprint. This title was first published by Hogan and Thompson, a
Philadelphia publisher, in 1851.
The date of the Altemus publication is unclear. Based on the use of
this imprint plus the style of the book a date between 1851 and the
1870's is my best guess.
This is definitely the earliest Altemus & Co imprint that I
have seen with exception of some photographic albums.
The book has gold gilt edges and measures 6.5 x 9.5.
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Altemus
& Co.: Ledger/ Blank Books
This ledger was published by
Altemus & Co. The exact date cannot be determined but the book
contains information that is dated in 1925. Altemus & Co. was
at the Fourth Street address at that time. The Altemus stamp as shown
below is pasted on the inside front cover of the book. A careful
inspection does not reveal any mention of Altemus on the binding or
anywhere else within the ledger. The ledger is 9.5 x 12. On the spine
the name of the owner is embossed in gold.
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Altemus
& Co.: Blank Book
Here is a 19th century blank
book published by Altemus & Co. This is only the second one
that I have seen.
As is also noted in the previous blank book shown, inside the front
cover is a label indicating Altemus & Co. with catalogue number
and volume identifiers.
This book dates from the 1880's. Altemus was at the 26 South Fourth
Street address at that time. It appears that the 26 S. Fourth Street
address was used mainly for ledgers and blank books while the Market
Street and later the Cherry Street addresses were publishing
Photographic Albums and Bibles.
I want to thank Susan Caughlan from the Worchester Historical Society
for providing these pictures.
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Scrapbooks
Altemus & Co. published
mainly Bibles and photographic albums between 1863 and 1892. They also
produced blank books, collection books, ledgers etc. Apparently
scrapbooks were also part of the publishing inventory in these years.
This particular one was copyrighted in 1874.
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