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Series Name:
Publish Dates:
Topic: |
Dore's Masterpieces Series
1889 - 1903
Varied reprint editions |
Series Number:
Volumes:
Formats: |
78
6
6 |
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Title: |
Author: |
Year: |
Illustrator: |
| 1 |
Dore Bible Gallery |
Anonymous |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 2 |
Milton's Paradise Lost |
Milton, John |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 3 |
Dante's Inferno |
Cary, Henry |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 4 |
Dante's Purgatory and Paradise |
Cary, Henry |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 5 |
Tennyson's Idylls of the King |
Tennyson, Alfred Lord |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 6 |
Rime of the Ancient Mariner |
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor |
1889 |
Dore, Gustave |
| 7 |
Die Dore Bibel Gallerie |
Anonymous |
1892 |
Dore, Gustave |
Henry
Altemus Format:
1 Volumes: 1
- 4, 7
Extra fine English cloth seen in various colors. Emblematic designs.
Full Gilt. Gold edges. 9.75 x 12. Boxed. This format was published
throughout the life of the series (1889-1903).
Henry
Altemus Format:
2 Volumes: 1
- 4, 7
Full Morocco. This morocco can be seen with the emblematic design or
blindstamped with gold gilt lettering. Gold edges, 9.75 x 12. Boxed.
Published between 1889-1901.
Henry
Altemus Format:
3 Volumes: 5
- 6
As in format 1 except 11 x 14.5. Boxed.
Henry
Altemus Format:
4 Volumes: 5
- 6
Full Morocco. Gold gilt edges. Boxed. 11 x 14.5. This format was
published between 1889 and 1893.
Henry
Altemus Format:
5 Volumes: 1
- 7
Half vellum with gold gilt decorative pattern. The right half of the
cover is plain in red, blue, brown or green and Dore's name in gold
gilt. Red canvas dust jacket. 9.75 x 12. This format was seen beginning
in 1892. Books #5 and #6 were published in this format between 1895 and
1898. Books #1-4, 7 were published in this format between 1895 and 1900.
Henry
Altemus Format:
6 Volumes: 1
- 4
Fine bullion silk binding. Padded sides, round corners, satin ribbons
stamped in gold. Gold edges. 9.75 x 12. Called the Presentation
Edition. These were published in 1889.
Series Notes:
1. Books #1-6 were all published by Altemus for the first time in
mid-1889. Only books 5 & 6 actually have a listed copyright
date of 1889 in the book. The other books have no dates.
2. Book #7 is a German translation of #1. It was only published between
1892-1901.
3. The books were first called Dore's Masterpieces in 1898. Prior to
that the books were advertised together and were of similar formats but
not grouped as an official series.
4. A variant of Format 5 has red not white vellum on the left. See
picture below.
5. These books were extremely expensive when first published. See
advertisements.
6. For a wonderful review of Gustave Dore see- Gustave Dore by Dan
Malan, Malan Classical Enterprises, St. Louis, Missouri, 1995. |
Format 1 #1
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Format 1 #1
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Format 1 #1
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Format 1 #1- variant
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Format 1 #2
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Format 1 #2
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Format 1 #2
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Format 1 #2
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Format 1 #2
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Format 1 #2
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Format 1 #3
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Format 1 #3
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Format 1 #4
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Format 1 #7
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Format 1 Back Cover-earliest
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Format 1 Back Cover-earlier
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Format 1 Back Cover-later
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Three different patterns have been seen on
the back cover of this format's books. It is clear that the book that
has the embossed cover (yellow) which matches the front cover is the
earliest edition (1889-1890). The decorative pattern came next and
finally the embossed H/A was on later books.
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Format 2 #1
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Format 2 #2
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Format 2 #3
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Format 2 #3
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Format 3 #5
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Format 3 #6
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Format 3 #6
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Format 3 #6 Box Cover
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Format 4 #5
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Format 5 #1
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Format 5 #1
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Format 5 #1
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Format 5 #2
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Format 5 #2 Variant
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Format 5 #2 Variant
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Format 5 #2 Variant
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Format 5 #3
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Format 5 #3
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Format 5 #3 Variant
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Format 5 #4
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Format 5 #4
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Format 5 #4 Variant
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Format 5 #5
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Format 5 #5 Variant
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Format 5 Dust Jacket
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Format 6 #3
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Dore
Masterpieces' Advertising
Most of the 7 books which comprise the Dore Masterpieces Series have
been found with advertising flyers within them. This was not uncommon
for Altemus books in this era. I have seen Dore flyers in several
different styles.
1. Single page one sided flyers. There exist single advertising sheets
for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Idylls of the King. These are
10.5 x 6.
2. Single sheet - two sided ads. This ad includes the 6 Dore
Masterpieces and has Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress. This ad does not list
the presentation editions and thus was from 1892 or later. They are
6.25 x 5.
3. Two 4 sided pamphlets have been seen. They list the same books-The
Dore Bible Gallery, Paradise Lost, Dante's Inferno and Dante's
Purgatory and Paradise. They both note the presentation editions. There
are two differences: at the top of each page one says- NEW EDITION
whereas the other states-ALTEMUS' EDITION. The other difference is that
the extra fine English Cloth books are priced at $4.00 in the former
ads and $6.00 in the latter ads. Although one would assume that the
higher price would signify a later date, there are no advertisements
that ever showed the English Cloth book listed at $6.00. Thus, the ads
can be assumed to be early in the publication history of these books
but they cannot be dated precisely. Examples of pages are shown below.
4. One advertising flyer has been seen that has 8 panels. It includes
all 7 of the Dore Masterpiece Books as well as Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress. Interestingly, the heading at the top of each page says
either "new edition" or "Altemus edition". Books #1-4 are listed as
Altemus Editions and they have the $6.00 price. Thus this flyer is of
the same vintage as the ad #3 above that said Altemus Edition. The ads
for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Idylls of the King are
identical to the single sheet ads.
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Publishers' Weekly
Advertising
This full page ad which appeared in the Publishers' Weekly in September
1892 shows how Henry Altemus was starting to move away from
concentrating on Bibles and more towards books for reading. The Bibles
which were previously given top billing in the ads are now at the
bottom
of this full page ad.
The Dore Masterpieces (Series # 78) are noted with a format 5 book
pictured. This is proof positive that this format was published by late
1892.
Also pictured is a copy of A Child's History of England. The four books
listed as New Editions were among the very first reading type books
that Altemus published. The various editions were deluxe and very
expensive for the time.
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