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Record Album
A phonograph album published by
Altemus has been discovered.
The album pictured below has 12 numbered pages each with a slot for a
record. It is not dated and there are no clues as to the publication
date.
On the back of the cover the Henry Altemus Co. name above the word
Philadelphia is noted.
I assume it was published sometime in the 1920's but this is a guess.
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Gusky's Publication
The four volume Shakespeare non series set was
first published in 1891. Interestingly this set has been discovered
with the Gusky Store of Pittsburgh imprint on the title page and Henry
Altemus 1891 on the copyright page. With the exception of the imprint
and the elegantly decorated end papers in the Altemus book, the four
volume Altemus set is identical to the four volume Gusky set. It would
appear that Altemus published this set for Gusky to sell in his store.
Although I have seen some non-Altemus advertising in several other
Altemus books, I have never seen a book that Altemus published for a
department store. This is especially interesting considering that the
Gusky set potentially could compete with the Altemus set. It is unclear
at this time exactly what year the Gusky set was published (I assume in
the early 1890's) and what sort of deal the Gusky Store and Altemus
had. Of note is that there are no books with the Gusky imprint listed
for sale anywhere that I can find on the web.
J.M. Gusky (1845-1886) bought out a mercantile establishment called S.
Cohen in 1882. He renamed it the Gusky Store. The Gusky Store is
considered by most to be Pittsburgh's first department store. The store
occupied five stories and sold mainly a variety clothing. After Gusky's
death from pneumonia his wife owned the business and the De Wolf
brothers managed it. By 1888 it had more than two million dollars in
sales.
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Montgomery Ward &
Co. Publication (Bible)
As has been noted before, Altemus occasionally did
publishing for other companies. It did a Shakespeare's Works for
Gusky's Department Store. Here is an example of a Bible that was
published for Montgomery Ward & Co. The cover is B11 (See: http://henryaltemus.com/bibles/bibles.htm)
which was published between 1894 and 1896. It appears that all Altemus
did is replace its imprint with that of the department store giant.
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Altemus book published for
Montgomery Ward & Co.
In Series #85-Famous Red and White Books (http://henryaltemus.com/series/series85.htm)
Uncle Tom's Cabin was book #10. It was published in 1894. A book with
the identical cover and contents has been discovered that has
Montgomery Ward & Co. as the imprint as opposed to Henry
Altemus. The Montgomery Ward book says "Souvenir Edition" at the top of
the title page and has Montgomery Ward & Co., with the 111-116
Michigan Avenue, Chicago address at the base of the title page.
The copyright page for both books is identical: Henry Altemus, 1894.
This book undoubtedly was published by Altemus for Montgomery Ward. I
suspect it was a promotional item since it does have "Souvenir Edition"
printed on the top of the title page. Most likely it was published in
the mid-1890's.
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Benevolent
Order of Elks Bible
There are a number of examples in which Altemus did
a small print run of a book for a private organization. This Bible
(B60) appears to have been specially made for "The Elks".
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks initials and symbol is
engraved in gold gilt on the front of this Bible. There are no other
identifying marks on the Bible.
Altemus published Bibles as noted above until the late 1890's. This
Bible was published after 1900 given that the Altemus incorporation is
indicated on the title page.
This Bible is simpler in substance than most Altemus Bibles. None of
the extra features usually seen, i.e. pages for family information,
Smith's dictionary, dictionary of names, etc. are included in this
book. The cover and spine are different from any 19th century Altemus
Bible and are plainer.
Also of note is the change at the bottom of the title page. The usual
"and there was light" has been changed to "The Light of the World".
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