Frank Merriwell Series by Federal Publishing Company

In an August 4, 2009 posting I discussed the Street and Smith Frank Merriwell hard cover books. The second publisher to print the hardcover Merriwell's was the Federal Book Company. As was noted before, Federal was the successor to F.M. Lupton Publishing Company and was active between 1902 and 1904.

The Federal Frank Merriwell's are very difficult to find. Although they initially had dust jackets, I have never seen one. There are two different formats that I have seen. I am unable to prioritize them. Both of the bindings have Federal on the spine but the title pages as well as the ads all say Street and Smith. Both books have exactly the same ads. I believe that both formats included the first six books of the series.

Frank Merriwell
1. School Days 1901
2. Chums 1902
3. Foes 1902
4.Trip West 1902
5. Down South 1903
6. Bravery 1903

I am arbitrarily going to call the book that's cover is the same as the Street and Smith Format 1-Format 1. This book has the familiar standing boy on the cover with red lettering.

The second book (Format 2) has the sitting boy cover which is one I have seen with books that are part of Street and Smith's Popular Series. Interestingly a Boys' Popular Series jacketed book I have has a Street and Smith jacket with a Federal imprint on the spine.

Regardless of the chronology of both of these books, we know That Federal was only operational between 1902 and 1904. Because Federal most likely followed Street and Smith in the publication of the Merriwell's, they were probably published in 1904.
Later I will discuss the much more common formats of the David McKay Frank Merriwell hard cover books.