Henry Altemus Company

The following are questions submitted via email by our visitors.

If you have a question about Altemus books that you'd like answered please click on the Questions link at the bottom left of this page.

Non Series #3

Q:  Hello, I have attached a scan of the cover. I have tried to do some research on this version of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass but I have yet to come across this cover. It does say Henry Altemus Company on the inside so I can assume it is after 1900 but it looks different than the one published in the Little Men and Women Series #125. This book does not has a dust jacket and is in OK condition. I would really just like to learn a little more about this.

A:  This version of Alice/Through was not part of a series.

You can see a copy with its jacket here Non Series #3

This format is more uncommon than the Little Men and Women Series and the Young People's Library (#202) Series Alice's.

I believe it was published in the mid to late teens and then reprinted for a number of years thereafter.

Title pages

Q:  I have a Henry Altemus book, A Wonder Book, which on the title page has a date of 1842. I thought he didn't publish any works before 1890?

A:  Hello. The title page you are referring to was used in numerous books in the 1890's. It signifies the year Altemus & Co. became an official company. You will note that directly across from the 1842 are the initials HA. These initials stand for Henry Altemus. This date and initials are purely part of the decorative pattern and do not indicate the date that the book was published.

Altemus published many 100s of different Bibles in the 1880s. Also before 1890 it published photo albums and scrapbooks. The Dore Masterpieces were published initially in 1889. Books for reading were published for the first time in 1890.

Non Series

Q:  Hello.... I have a book titled Black Beauty by Ann Sewell and it has no publishing date on it. The book was given as a gift to someone Dec. 25 1921 and I wondered if you could tell me about how old it really is???? The book is in good shape and it has a young lady in a red hat on the horse. I would like to know when Black Beauty The Autobiography Of A Horse was printed by com.

A:  Black Beauty was published in more than 25 Altemus Series and more than 40 different formats between 1895 and 1933. The only book that is consistent with your description is a Black Beauty published as non series book. Black Beauty was published in three different non series versions. This one was first done in about 1920. The exact date of your book can only be determined by an examination of the ads in the book and on the dust jacket (if available). It was reprinted numerous times. A dust jacketed copy is shown here.