Can find NO information on this 1900 Ellis book set

I am actually looking for someone, anyone, who has information on this set because I cannot find anything on it anywhere. I own it, but nothing I find in the wild seems to be an exact match. I can find ones that are really close, but none of the spines match it.

The title is: Twentieth Century History of the United States (The twentieth is inside, the spine shows 20th)

publisher: Belcher in New York, Pittsburgh, and Chicago

year: 1900

volumes: 8

Title page: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GWYinZ9qjDfVgq8k7

spine: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ecaMnXLuQKsYbmDX8

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Welcome to Antiquers Toozie21!

I can't help, but just wanted to say hello.

 

Not gonna lie, I got excited that someone knew what the heck was going on when I saw I had a reply already .

Thanks. I am sifting through my Grandfather's large American History book collection, so I have a feeling I will be one here once or twice!

 

Toozie, could you show used a picture of the books?
Tread carefully. We had a very large collection of DH's Dads historical books. We called the Historical Society of Virginia to look at them for a donation. They took them all and sent us an inventory with notes and with values for tax purposes.

We nearly fell over. Several complete sets were only known at the time to be available at the Library of Congress. They were absolutely delighted with the donations and we were delighted with the tax write offs ... and for the fact that they are now available for researchers to use at the library.

Good luck with your books.
Patd

 

Good call. I don't think I can edit the post (probably too new), so I will post the better links here:

 

Hi and welcome! Have you seen this listing? They don't have a photo of the actual book but perhaps you could ask.

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?...%20from%20the%20discovery%20of%20america%20to

 

Sadly yes. It looks like a reprint, single book. The one I have is from 1900 (looks like a first edition) and is 8 volumes in all.

 

Interesting, that is a good option! There are TONS of boxes, and my Grandmother (my Grandfather passed a few years back), is getting to the point that she would be fine recycling them. I would rather get them to somewhere that might be able to use them. Sadly they are located outside of Pittsburgh, but my Dad is actually in VA, so he might be able to work something out, at least with some of them.

 

Actually it says that what is shown on Amazon isn't the cover and the description sounds like it's an old one.

Anyway, here is one that could be like yours I think (or maybe it is yours?)

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-1900-8v-set-history-limited-430071804

 

Not gonna lie SIS, I am VERY upset with you. I have literally spent HOURS trying to find this (and I consider myself a pretty good google-er)!!!! That is indeed the set I have (though not my pics). All the other ones I could find seemed pretty much the exact same as that, but never was 20th/twentieth on the spine.

Mine are pretty much in the same state as those. It is interesting to note that those people could find zero other copies of the set. I forgot that there was a sticker indicating that it was of a run of 500, I'll have to see what number mine was.

Of course the listing is too old for ebay to show what it was listed at and if it even sold. But it is at least nice to see someone else has this set, and that they couldn't find another set online either.

I //think// I figured out who the seller was (Rhode Island Antiques Mall [ebay user: riantiquesmall]) based on they way they worded stuff at the end of the book post and finding exact matches for some of it in this person's new descriptions (and the fact that they are an antique place only re-affirms to me that it is them).

I don't have a Worthpoint account, so I'll try to see if the seller would be willing to let me know any information on the set and maybe how much it ended up going for (doubtful on the last one).

You guys are all great, thanks for getting me into the right direction. I'll report back if I can get any other information on this!!!!

 

Images need to be NOT OVER 1 mb, (they can be under) or they won't post, but I see you did get one up!!!! And WELCOME to ANTIQUERS, @toozie21 !!!! And someone here does have a WorthPoint account.....maybe if they see this post, they can enlighten you as to the sale price!!!! Sorry, that's not me!!

 

Hey many hands (and minds) make light work.

Somebody with a worthpoint account will probably be along.

 

It was probably sold door to door by subscription. Do any of the volumes end mid-sentence? That was done to encourage people to buy the next.

 

Fingers crossed

Interesting, never heard of that. I'll take a look tonight. Thanks for the tip.

 

It does seem to be a scarce set, and the reason may be the condition of the bindings on the few sets you have found. Some types of leather used for binding books around the turn of the century proved to be very susceptible to deterioration. It has to do with a method of tanning developed in the late 19th century. In the effort to accelerate the tanning process, new tanning agents were introduced which had the effect of creating leather very sensitive to sulfur pollutants in the air (think of coal burning furnaces and industries). These leather bindings absorbed the pollutants, becoming acidic and exhibiting symptoms now called "red rot" - basically becoming fragile, powdery, and falling apart. Few of these sets may have survived relatively intact.
Ellis seems to have been a very prolific writer, but better known for his novels and historical writings geared toward young readers. Though scarce, I would not expect this particular set to have much monetary value. Such general histories rarely hold their interest for later readers or collectors. You can do a search on abebooks.com to get an idea of prices for other Ellis books. Enter his name (Edward S. Ellis) in the author field, limit the publication dates to 1890 - 1920, and tick hardcover to get a good selection of his books.

 

All good points. I actually wasn't expecting to see it pay off my car loan, but that would have been nice . I was 1) interested in a ballpark price, and 2) making sure that it wasn't some sort of rebound book issue (I figured unlikely, but I was having trouble ruling it out). Until today, the only thing that led me to believe that the book existed was that it was cited in one or two other books. Otherwise, I a was very confused.

I am not a book guy, but I was amazed by Ellis (and his many pen names) and his book catalog. Dude liked to do some typing!!!!

This is a pretty similar set to the ones we've been talking about: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Bo...centlyadded=all&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image1

Of course, I know that just because someone //wants// a price, doesn't mean that it is //worth// that price. My set is 8 volumes, but in worse shape. Mine was limited to 500 copies, but if there is no major value in the author/book, I don't really think that that will play into things.

 

I've got a WorthPoint account. They sold for $99.99 for the set on April 3, 2013.