To: The Lucile Project Home Page
To: Frequently Asked Questions
To: Lucile's Publishers
See White, Stokes & Allen for predecessor firm; F.A. Stokes for successor. Frederick A. and Horace Stokes bought out Joel Parker White and Frank Allen; relocated to 182 Fifth Avenue (DLB 49).
Index of Stokes & Brother Editions:
Duodecimo Poets, 1887-1889; blue cloth with paper label.
Family Poets, 1887-1889; cloth and padded seal.
16mo Series, 1887-1889; six bindings.
Standard Edition, 1887; cloth.
Vignette Edition, 1889; six bindings.
Descriptions and reported copies:
1887 PTLA: [catalog name is "Frederick A. Stokes", lacking "& Brother"]:
Duodecimo Poets. Initial volumes in a series whose features will be excellent paper and press-work, neat binding, moderate price. / Each volume is printed in attractive, clear type on very fine laid paper, in duodecimo size. / Plain, dark blue, "dull-finish" cloth, with flat back and tasteful label in two colors on hand-made paper. / Gilt top, Price each volume, $1.25; Half calf, gilt top, $2.50.
"Family" Poets. The distinctive features of Frederick A. Stokes's edition of these volumes are New Illustrations, made by good artists especially for this edition; Beautifully Engraved Borders printed in soft tints on all the pages; Good Paper; Careful Presswork. / Each volume is a large 8vo, cloth, bevelled boards, gilt edges. $2.50; Imitation "seal," padded covers, gilt edges. In a box, $4.00.
Poets. Frederick A. Stokes's 16mo Series of Poetical Works in Dainty Binding. / Uniform in size and style. Printed in clear type, on fine, laid paper, wide margins. Mostly made up of poets whose works appear in no other good American edition. Very attractive in appearance.... Each one of the above is offered in a variety of bindings, all of which have been given great care / Parchment-paper covers with hand-illuminated design on side; title, and back printed in red ink. Different design for each volume. $1.00. Olive green vellum cloth, gilt top, plain,$1.00; Half calf, extra, gilt top, Reduced price, $2.00; Limp imitation seal, round corners, gilt edges In a box, $2.50; Limp, full pocket-book calf, round corners, red-under-gold edges. In a box. $3.00; Tree calf, gilt edges. In a box, $3.50. Parchment-paper, half calf, limp calf, and tree calf IN BOXES. / Of these volumes The Week says: "The critic finds it impossible to take up this volume without being preprossessed in its favor by the dainty loveliness of its dress. The paper is charming, the margins are liberal, the type neat and clear."
Poets, Standard Edition. [Frederick A. Stokes's Special List Of Publications Offered by Him upon the Same Basis as His Own. Includes certain publications Wholly Controlled by Him.] These are well printed on good linen paper. Fully illustrated, crown octavo, bevelled boards. Handsome design in gold and colors on side and back. Each $2.00. [Both Meredith and Lucile].
1888 PTLA: Duodecimo editions as 1887.
1888
PTLA: Family Poets as 1887.
Titlepage: Family Edition. H.N. Cady illustrations, W. St. John Harper borders printed in alternating "tints" of brown and blue. Verso titlepage: Copyright 1886 by White, Stokes, & Allen.
----, successors to White, Stokes & Allen, 1888. 160x250mm, 352p. Titlepage border printed green (or brown). Blue cloth stamped black, red and gold; beveled edges; aeg; (same stamping as SB2, WSA1, see also Nims N1a, N1b). Encircled portrait of Meredith in lower right corner top board. Glazed blue endsheets. BAP SB1; S&EH.
----. Green cloth. S&EH.
----. Dark blue cloth. S&EH; BAP.
----. Brown cloth. Alyce Cresap Books & Ephemera.
----. University of North Carolina [cloth not determined];
Columbia: microfilmed.
1888 PTLA: 16mo Series of Poetical Works in Dainty Bindings: Each of these 15 volumes is a 16mo, well-printed on very fine, laid paper, with wide margins, from new electrotype plates. / Styles of binding. / Each volume is offered in a great variety of bindings, all of which have been given most careful attention by the publishers. I. New Half-Cloth Binding. With back and half sides of sage-green, vellum-cloth, covered with tracery in gold. Outer half-sides delicate green, buff and gold. Gilt top. A most charming binding. Price, each volume, $1.00. II. Olive-green vellum-cloth, gilt top. Very plain and neat. Each $1.00; III. Parchment-paper covers with hand-illuminated design on side; title, and back printed in red ink. Different design for each volume as follows... Jaqueminot rose... Each vol., in a box. $1.00. / IV. Half calf, extra, gilt top, olive and "cocoa" sides and linings, neat tooling and lettering and good materials and workmanship. Price, each vol., $2.00; V. Limp, wine-colored, imitation seal-skin, round corners, gilt edges. Price, each vol., in a box, $2.50; VI. Limp, wine-colored, pocket-book calf, round corners, red-under-gold edges. In a box. $3.00; VII. Very dark brown tree-calf, gilt edges. Price, each vol., in a box, $3.50.
1889 PTLA: Duodecimo Poets as 1888.
1889 PTLA: Family Poets as 1888. Illustrated by H.N. Cady with borders by St. John Harper. 160x250mm, 352p. All have imprint date MDCCCLXXXIX [1889].
----. Titlepage border printed brown. Brown cloth. Glazed blue endsheets. BAP SB2a: copy of Chas. Roberts, Strawberry Point, IA with his private library bookplate and, laid in, a calling card presenting the book to him.
----. Titlepage border printed green. Light green cloth. Glazed blue endsheets. BAP SB2b; BAP copy 2: laid in material relating to its gift to Harriet Connor Brown, one of the first women graduates of Cornell, on her marriage, 1897; University of Virginia.
1889 PTLA: 16mo Series as 1888. All copies have imprint date MDCCCLXXXIX [1889] and are about 100x157mm, 352p.
----. Half-title but no frontispiece. Titlepage printed red. Quarter white cloth stamped gold, floral (cyclameus?) paper finish. Plain endsheets. BAP SB4.
----. Half [brown?] cloth, finish with illuminated paper. Same stamping as BAP SB4. University of Alberta.
Vignette Editions: Titlepage: Vignette Edition with one hundred new illustrations by Frank M. Gregory. Verso titlepage: Copyright 1889 by Frederick A. Stokes & Brother.
1889 PW Sept 21, p352: The most saleable "Lucile" ever published.... Vignette editions, illustrated by 100 new illustrations, engraved in half-tone, after original designs. Ten of the illustrations are full-page, and the remainder are of various sizes and odd shapes, and are set in the text in an artistic manner. / 12mo, printed in the best manner, and on the first quality of coated paper. / Special Attention has been given to the styles of binding. / Parchment paper covers, with appropriate design in colors, uncut pages, $150; New half-cloth binding, Back and half-sides in dull-finish, dark brown cloth, outer half-sides in illuminated paper, in brown and gold, $1.50; Half calf, flat back, wide raised bands, gilt top, $3.00; Half crushed levant, best quality, beautifully finished, gilt top, $3.50; Full crushed levant, best quality, gilt edges, in a box, $5.00; Dark brown, tree calf, gilt edges, in a box, $5.00.
1889 PW: Nov 2. A beautiful new edition printed on fine paper and il. With 100 new il., engraved in half-tone after original designs. Ten of the il. Are full-page, and the remainder are set in the text in an artistic manner. c. 420p. D. hf. Cl. Or parchment pap., $1.50; hf cf, $3; hf. Crushed levant $3.50; crushed levant or tree cf., $5.
PW. Christmas Bookshelf, p43: Several new and exceedingly pretty volumes of poetry are delightful specimens of book-making. Any one of them is a most desirable gift. The Vignette Edition of Owen Meredith's "Lucile"; (Stokes) is rich in graceful little sketches from the pencil of Frank N. Gregory. The strong human interest in this poetic romance has gathered to it readers by the thousands. The charming form in which it now appears is not the least of its attractions....
The Literary World, a Monthly Review of Current Literature, Nov. 28, 1889, p420, “Holiday Books: Owen Meredith Illustrated. Owen Meredith's Lucile is favorite ground for the artists. Mr. Frank M. Gregory's one hundred illustrations, mostly inserted in the text, will bear comparison, as a whole, with the work of his predecessors. The publishers have done their part, in other respects, to make this “vignette edition” convenient in its form and attractive in binding and typography. It can hardly fail to have a large sale among the author's thousands of admirers (Frederick A. Stokes & Brother. $1.50). [Also notice of new edition of The Earl's Return ].
The Nassau Literary Magazine, January 1890, p428: "So many finely illustrated books are appearing at this time that it almost impossible to admire them all as much as they deserve. The present edition of Mr. Meredith's masterpiece is certainly one of the most artistically illustrated books of the season. In many instances the illustrator may not have depicted the heroine in a fashion fully up to the ideal in the minds of many readers, but the figures are graceful and striking, and the faces are pretty and appropriate, so that it is with a feeling of unalloyed pleasure that we once more read this poem, with fresh aid to our imagination in the shape of numerous illustrations."
Known copies of the Vignette Edition: All have imprint date MDCCCLXXXIX [1889] and are approximately125x195mm, 420p
----. Quarter brown cloth gold stamped with floral pattern and finished in brown speckled paper which has barely perceptible top-to-bottom moire strips approx 9mm wide. Plain paper endsheets. Library of Congress NL 0594623; S&EH BAP SB3a, copy 1, copy 2: card of W. Houston Wilkerson pasted to front pastedown; copy 3: December 1889 inscription; copy 4: boards chipped; UCLA; University of Michigan; DePauw; [Universty of Idaho].
----, Quarter green cloth stamped with floral pattern as above but finished in a paper featuring small ovals printed in pale green, gold-brown and cream. Athenaeum of Philadelphia.
----. as above but quarter blue cloth. University of Colorado.
----, Quarter white cloth gold stamped (as SB3a) with a floral (cyclameus?) pattern and finished with floral paper. Plain paper endsheets. BAP SB3b.
----.
Full crushed levant, spine gilt, aeg. Marbled endsheets. University
of Iowa.
Other copies reported 1889: NL 0594623 Whitman College; Oberlin: original binding; Louisiana State University (Y N); Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.
-END-