Rollo's Tour in Europe- Boxed Set

The Rollo's Tour in Europe was one of the most popular series for juveniles in the mid and late 19th century. The ten book series was published by 27 different publishers between 1853 and 1907.
The first editions were published by W. J. Reynolds (Volumes 1-6) and Brown , Taggard and Chase ( Volumes 7-10).

The Series:
Rollo
On the Atlantic 1853
In Paris 1854
In Switzerland 1854
In London 1855 (copyright is 1854 but first edition title page has 1855)
On the Rhine 1855
In Scotland 1856 (Copyright is 1855 but first edition title page is 1856)
In Geneva 1857
In Holland 1857
In Naples 1858
In Rome 1858



Here is a stunning example of a boxed set from 1860. This set, published by Brown, Taggard and Chase, includes all 10 volumes. It includes books published in 1858, 1859 and 1860.
Most of the Rollo publishers in the 19th century did put together boxed sets but they are incredibly rare.

For much more on the Rollo Series see my website: http://www.henryaltemus.com/Rollo/

If you are interested in the Abbott series. you can see some of my other Abbott pictorial bibliographies by clicking on "Other Abbott Series" in the upper right of the Rollo home page.

1868-69 Boxed set of The Robin Redbreast Series by Leslie

Here is a great boxed set of the Robin Redbreast Series which was published in 1868-1869. This set of six books was published by Woolworth, Ainsworth and Company and co-published with A. S. Barnes


Dating this boxed set can be done with relative ease. The Crosby and Ainsworth publishing house was succeeded by Woolworth, Ainsworth & Company in 1868.

By 1870 the Boston address for this publisher had changed to 32 Bromfield Street. Since the address noted on the box is 117 Washington Street in Boston , we know the boxed set was published in 1868 or 1869.

In 1871 the company closed its Boston office and was publishing with a New York and a Chicago address.

Not all is clear in terms of books of this series however. Although the title on the box is clearly The Robin Redbreast Series, the six books listed on the box and found within the box are not all from that series. Three of the books listed are from the Little Frankie Series. I am unsure how this mixup occurred. As you can see on a list of the books shown below, this box certainly includes the books from the two different series.
Both of these six volume series (Little Frankie and The Robin Redbreast Series) were initially published as boxed sets in 1860 by Crosby, Nichols, Lee & Co. Subsequently they were published by Crosby and Nichols and later by Crosby and Ainsworth before finally ending up being published by Woolworth, Ainsworth and Co. in 1868.

A comprehensive biography of the author, Madeline Leslie , a pseudonym for Harriette Newell Baker Woods, can be found at Deidre Johnson's site: http://www.readseries.com/auth-les-wise/baker-bio.html .

Virtually all juvenile series from the 1850's to 1890's were published in boxes like the one shown here. Finding them is another matter.

Dotty Dimple Series Boxed Set

Everyone has their favorite collectibles. In the book world mine are 19th century boxed sets. That is not to say I have many of them but to me they are very special.
Lee and Shepard, one of the giants in juvenile series book publishing in that era, produced a boxed set for virtually every series they published. Initially the books would be published separately and then finally combined into a boxed set after the requisite number of books were done.

Here on the back of an advertising flyer for the Quinnebasset Series written by Sophie May is a great listing of a number of May's series with pictures of the boxed sets.






Pictured here is the a boxed set for the Dotty Dimple Series. The last of the six books in this series was published in 1870. All six of my books have 1876 on the title page. Thus this is a later set. I would have thought that Lee and Shepard only did one set per series. That is, each boxed set for this series published over a number of year period would have the same paste-on cover and side labels. Clearly I was mistaken.

Although the picture is small (even on the original), on the bottom left of the advertising flyer shown here is a picture of the Dotty Dimple box. The cover picture is different from the one seen on my box.

I think because of popularity and large publishing runs that the Lee and Shepard boxed sets are easier to find than other publisher's works.

Here are the six books of this series.
Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's 1868
DD at Home 1868
DD out West 1868
DD at Play 1869
DD at School 1869
DD's Flyaway 1870

True Story Library -19th Century Boxed Set

Here is a very nice boxed set of 12 books written by Mrs. Julia McNair Wright (1840-1903) and published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Union. These small volumes are 4.75 x 3.5. They are all copyrighted in 1870.

It is unclear as to the exact date of publication. They were advertised from 1870 until the late 1880's. Typical for the era the set came boxed with a representative picture on the top lid. Most, if not all, of the sets published by the religious publishing houses, i.e. American Tract Society, American Sunday School Union. The Methodist Book Concern and Presbyterian Board, came in this very typica, box. Some boxes however were made from wood not cardboard.

A review of this set in 1870 stated " ...contains spicy biographies.. They are well told stories for little people, or for large. Our Monthly, Volume II, December, 1870.

The True Story Library, No. 1 was copyrighted in 1869.