Jas. B. Smith Advertising Cover-Philadelphia

Jas. B. Smith & Co. was established in 1837. It published reprints of classics in addition to Bibles. It seems its main concentration was the manufacture of blank books. This is noted in the advertisement included here which was published in 1867 in Freedley's Philadelphia and its Manufactures; A Hand-Book of the Great Manufacturies.

Smith's company was at the South Seventh Street address for many years beginning as early as 1860. Here is a very scarce advertising cover which shows a nice picture of Smith's building.

It is interesting to me (and maybe only me) how at the time these publishing companies sent out their statements and advertising propaganda within envelopes like this one, it probably would have been difficult to know which company would end up being well known in collectors' circles a century later and which would have been relegated to the scrap heap. I guess you just never know.

Lothrop Advertising Calendar

Here is a great calendar broadside advertisement for D. Lothrop & Co. The ad mentions three of Lothrop's magazines: Babyland, Wide Awake and the Little Folks' Reader.

Interestingly the entire 12 months of the year are shown on the one page of the ad with little vignettes of children for each month. What the ad does not reveal is what year it is for. Nowhere on the face of the ad id the year stated. Pretty bizarre, huh.

So what year is the ad for. There are a few hints.

D. Lothrop & Co. was in business from 1868-1887. After that the name was changed to D. Lothrop Co. On the calendar January 1rst is on a Saturday. That happened in 1870,1876, 1881, and 1887.

We can eliminate 1870 as the year because the Wide Awake magazine was introduced in 1874.
The Little Folks' Reader was initially started in 1880 so 1876 can also be eliminated as the year in question. By 1883 the periodical Wide Awake had a yearly subscription rate of $2.50. But in 1881 the yearly price was $2.00 just like on the ad.

Thus, this ad is for 1881.

Advertising Cover for A.J. Holman & Co.

The picture above is an advertising cover for A.J. Holman & Co. This cover is especially nice because it has a picture of the Holman building in Philadelphia and is dated (January 14, 1891).

A. J. Holman was an extremely prolific publisher of Bibles in the 19th century. In the 1850's Holman was employed by Jesper Harding, another huge Bible publishing house, as a superintendent of the manufacture of Bibles. In 1872 he began his own publishing firm which as the cover notes specialized in Bibles, and photographic albums.

Holman competed directly at that time with his former employer, Jesper Harding. In 1883 one of Holman's trusted copartners , Captain J. Parker Martin, left Holman to take over as manager of the Henry Altemus Bible production department. The similarity between the new Altemus Bibles and the Holman Bibles was quite startling. See: http://henryaltemus.com/bibles/bibles.htm .

As the years went on into the 20th century Holman continued to be one of the major Bible publishers.

Holman was still at this address in this building into the middle of the 20th century.

Harper and Brothers Advertising Calendar August 1886

Here is a great little item. Harper and Brothers is one of the really long-lived publishers. Beginning as J. & J. Harper in 1817 and evolving into Harper and Brothers in 1833 it was one of the major 19th century publishers. Harper's Weekly was a hugely popular periodical especially during the Civil War.

This little calendar from August, 1886 advertises a number of books published by Harper. Most publishers produced these little advertising pieces in this era. They are not too easy to find however.

Stratemeyer Advertising Pamphlet from LL&S

Today I wanted to present a great advertising pamphlet from Lothrop, Lee and Shepard.

In my experience pamphlets which advertise juvenile series books are quite uncommon. Clearly a one page or an accordion-like ad is much easier and certainly much cheaper to produce. This 64 page pamphlet is a vehicle for promoting Edward Stratemeyer's juvenile books.



Not only are there excerpts from some of Stratemeyer's books here but there are also numerous ads with book pictures from his various series.


The series noted are:
Dave Porter Series-Volumes 1-3
Pan-American Series
Old Glory Series
Soldiers of Fortune Series
Colonial Series
American Boys' Biographical Series
The Stratemeyer Popular Series (12 volumes)

Excerpts are presented from:
Dave Porter at Oak Hall (Dave Porter Series)
Defending His Flag
Lost on the Orinoco (Pan American Series)
Under Dewey at Manila (Old Glory Series)
Under the Mikado's Flag (Soldier of Fortune Series)
With Washington in the West (Colonial Series)

Also included in this pamphlet are numerous illustrations from the books themselves.

I believe this pamphlet dates from 1907. Both Dave Porter's Return to School and Defending His Flag were published in that year. There are no later books noted.