PUBLISHER: Homewood Publishing Company, Chicago, 1890s?-1914; continued as The Homewood Press, 1915-1923+
ABOUT: This firm appears in the "publishers" list of Chicago city directories 1890-1914. It also appears in the alphabetical listings in 1911, 1913, and 1914 (J.B. Nelleger, Jr. president), described as "printers," 10th floor, 633 Plymouth Court. The entry changes to The Homewood Press (J.B. Nelleger, Jr., president) 1915-1917. The 1923 entry has the same name and address, but E.J. Low is president and N.A. Greaves treasurer. (American Printer and Lithographer vol. 34 (March-August 1902), p460:) "The Homewood Publishing Company has been incorporated in Chicago with a capital of $2,500, to do printing. Incorporators, Arthur B. Schaffner, Harry Goodman and Arthur L. Schwartz."
From about 1890 to after 1900, Homewood seems to have issued mainly if not only books issued in series by the W.B. Conkey Co., and the few known examples of its advertising are duplicates of Conkey materials. During this period, at least, it may be that the firm acted merely as a marketer for Conkey-- or indeed was either a division within Conkey or a wholly owned subsidiary. It's location in downtown Chicago may have made it easier for travelers and customers to access than the vast Hammond, Indiana, Conkey plant.
LUCILE’s ISSUED BY Homewood Publishing Company:
1903. The New Abbey Series: [This binding style is linked to Conkey's editions of George W. Peck's books on Cary Sternick's Conkey page at his HenryAltemusCompany web site.]
1903 PTLA: NEW ABBEY SERIES. 12mos. Nearly 400 Volumes. All Complete and Unabridged Editions. / Our Abbey Series has received an unrivaled share of popular favor. Undeniably the very best set of popular 12mos ever published -- the intention being to bring this series within the reach of people of the most moderate means. / The books are clearly printed from large type, on a good quality of book paper, and are hansoely and sustantially bound in cloth, embossed with an artistic design in two colors of inks on front and back covers, with side titles and lettering in gilt on back. / In this series we bring to the hearth of the most modest home the opportunity to buy the most famous books by the great authors of the world at a cost that can be comforatably met. They are good, clean, attractive, well-made books, hansomely bound and well-printed, and fit to make a worthy foundation for a meritorious home library. The list includes most of the treasured materworks, many of which have long stood in the highest rank of modern fiction. There is no equivalent series on the market -- none that begins to compare wit the Abbey Series for Intrinsic literary merite, for beauty of external form, and for moderate price. Price 25 cents.
"The books in the ABBEY SERIES are in every sense a marvel of cheapness: paper, printing and binding alike being excellent. Even the present age of beautiful reprints has seen nothing at once so cheap and so thoroughly good." --- Bookseller.
1903 PTLA: Acorn Padded Edition: 12mos., 35 volumes. Illustrated. 12mos. Bound in tanned French seal leather embossed with a spray of oak leaves extending across both sides and back of the cover, the design is exceedingly harmonious in treatment, the colors used being the different shades of brown seen on oak leaves in the Autumn, which blend with the colors of the leather. Titles stamped in gold upon the back and the side. Round corners, red-under-gold edges, engraved end sheets, illuminated title pages, and frontispiece portraits of the authors. Price $1.50. The binding is the perfection of beauty and durability and is beautifully soft to the touch. [Cut of Lucile].
1902-1903 Conkey Catalogue: Amaranth Series: This series is so described in the catalogue, kindly provided by Cary Sternick
1903 PTLA: CLASSIC GIFT EDITIONS. 12mos. 100 Volumes. Illustrated. Boxed. / The most sumptous line of gift books ever published. Thse beautiful volumes are bound in art buckram with vellum backs, richly ornamented with gold stamping and titles, with side embellished with twenty-five different designs lithographedin fourteen colors. They include portraits of the poets, lovely landscapes, exquisite figures in costume, beautiful art studies, and sprays of flowers rproducted with great delicacy and fidelity. Each book is handsomely printed and illustrated, and carries an illuminated title page. / The books are admirably adapted for bithday souvenirs, or as presentation volumes to persons of taste and cultivation. Nothing can be surer of appreciation. A volume from this exquisite series will cause the recipient to remember the donor with genuine pleasure. Every volume reflects on the possessor's knowledge of eminent genius. Price $1.00.
1903 PTLA: New Ivory Series: Handy Shape, white art vellum. An Ideal Series of Classics. Illustrated. Handy Shape Volumes. These dainty books are beautifully printed from open-faced type, on fine, especially made paper. Bound in white art vellum, ornamented with designs lithographed in fourteen colors, with attractive gilt back stamp, and gilt side ornamentation and titles. Illustrated with half-tone engravings; title pages colors and printed end sheets. In glazed wrappers and boxed. Price 50 Cents.
1904. The New Cameo Series: Series M. Complete and Unabridged Editions. 12mos. An Entirely New Issue of an Unrivaled Series of Standard and Popular Books. Price (CC) 35 cents. / These judiciously selected titles are the cream of the world's litratue. Nearly 600 hundred volumes of distinctly enjoyable books that charm the heart and please the fancy, by the master minds of the century -- most of them admitted classics. / The books in this charming series are beautifully printed from large type and bound in excelent taste in vellum cloth, with a particularly artistic cover design printed in two colors of inks on front and back, with side titles, and back letterings in genuine gold. Will certainly be the most popular selling Series of the year. Many of the books are copyrighted and can be obtained only in this unrivaled Series. [Cut].
Library Edition. [Undated. This designation appears on the spine of this copy].
Calumet Series. The Edward T. LeBlanc Memorial Dime Novel Bibliography (https://dimenovels.org) includes a record for Lucile listed in advertisements for the series of 383 5"x7" titles, pictorial black and white covers framed by designed borders in color, issued in the late 1890s. Described as "Attractive Paper Covered Book Illustrated Cover in Colors. 12mo size. Retail Price, 14 cents. This new line of popular paper books is all thread-sewed (not wired), comprising the best standard works of fiction. A number of new copyright book have been put in this line."
Other Homewood Imprints
Last revised: 25 October 2020