Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="2manybooks, post: 1152692, member: 8267"]2many's partner here. There are over 1000 English-language editions of SFR listed on Worldcat, a catalogue of books held in world libraries, from 1812 on. A few from 1888 and 1900 are noted as being the "seventh edition", but there are dozens if not hundreds of editions and translations, including a ninth edition as early as 1834. I find one version on Abebooks, published by Donohue, Henneberry in Chicago, of 404 pages, but the binding described is different - no photo or date is offered. The work was long out of copyright by the late Victorian period, so anyone could print it. The period would be 1890-1900 or so, based on the binding style, materials, & decorations. My theory is that P & M was a start-up of the day, offering classics sold by door-to-door salesmen, and did not last long. Those initials match no publishers I know or find in the Worldcat listings - though I only looked at 1880-1900. Publishing in that era was wild & woolly, with schisms, mergers, and failure not uncommon. There were probably several 'children's classics' produced by them, in identical bindings. They might well have pirated the Donohue Henneberry edition, or bought DH's old plates, or even used their own binding on pages printed by DH. The cheapness (apologies) of the paper & binding are common to books of that type & time.[/QUOTE]