Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Deer Lodge Series by W. Gordon Parker

The great outdoors was a popular theme for juvenile series books in the late 19th and early 20th century. This three book series is a good example. The Deer Lodge Series was published by Lee and Shepard and written by W. Gordon Parker.

The stories follow Grant Burton, Perry Langdon and their buddies on various outdoor adventures. Hunting, fishing, and water sports are just some of the highlights. "The Boys are manly, honest and of good principle". The books have one glossy picture, the frontispiece, and numerous other line drawn illustrations.
The line drawn illustrations as well as the frontispieces were done by Parker himself.

The three books were copyrighted between 1898 and 1900. Although I am showing only covers here today, based on the previous patterns of Lee and Shepard, the books did originally come with dust jackets.

W. Gordon Parker was an author as well as a ranked tennis player as a young man. He shot himself through the heart with a pistol at his home in Charlevoix, Michigan in 1928

The Books:
1. Six Young Hunters; or, The Adventures of the Greyhound Club 1898
2. Grant Burton, the Runaway; or, The Mishaps of a Schoolboy 1899
3. Rival Boy Sportsmen; or, The Mink Lake Regatta 1900

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