Henry Altemus Advertising Cover

After years of publishing Bibles and photographic albums Henry Altemus began to print books for reading in 1889. The first of these books were the six titles of the of the Dore's Masterpieces Series. ( http://henryaltemus.com/series/series78.htm). All six oversized volumes were published until 1903 in a number of different formats. Because of the beautiful Gustave Dore illustrations, these books are always in great demand and consistently sell for a premium.

This advertising cover from 1890 pictures Format 1- Volume 1 in the series. The other books of this group are listed at the top of the envelope. Die Dore Bibel Gallerie is a German translation of Volume #1 and was included in this series beginning in 1892. (Thus, at that point there were seven titles in the series.)

This is the only Altemus envelope that I have seen that pictures a book. For more Altemus ephemera see http://henryaltemus.com/ephemera/ephemera.htm