aka/ The Daisy 16mos.
F.M. Lupton Publishing Company (New York, US)
Series dates: 1898-1901
Size: 6″ x 4″
An entry at the Henry Altemus Company website details the history of the publisher Frank Moore Lupton (1854-1910). Lupton was one of many publishers of reprint series in the late 19th and early 20th century in the U.S. These series were typically small books (12mo, 16mo) with decorative bindings sold for a low price. Lupton began publishing around 1880 as F.M. Lupton. His Leisure Hour Library, published starting in 1892, originally sold for 3 cents and its success helped the firm grow. A number of popular periodicals were also published. In 1892 a firm was incorporated as F.M. Lupton Publishing Company for book publishing, and F.M. Lupton remained publishing periodicals. 12mo cloth series published in this era included the Stratford Series, the Lenox Series, the Avon Series and the Daisy Series (the last at 16mo, shown below). Additional paper bound series were also published (Bijou, Souvenir, and Elite Series).
In 1902 F.M. Lupton Publishing Co. became the Federal Book Company. F.M. Lupton continued to publish periodicals. The Federal Book Company continued to publish some of the earlier Lupton series, and also new series, including the Windsor Series, Gilt Top Series, and the Acme Series. The Federal Book Company went out of business in 1904. Illustrations of most of the Lupton & Federal series can be found at the Altemus web pages.
As is typical with these series books, dates are seldom included. The dates of books can be estimated by the publisher name used an address for the publisher on the books (again, from the Altemus site):
Lupton Company name dates:
F.M. Lupton and Company 1875-
F.M. Lupton, Publisher -1882-1892
F.M. Lupton Publishing Company 1892-1902
Federal Book Company 1902-1904
F.M. Lupton, Publisher 1902-1929
Lupton Address dates:
37 Park Row 1875-1877
245 Broadway 1877-1879
27 Park Place 1882-1884
63 Murray Street 1885-1889
106-108 Reade Street 1890-1893 (There are some 1893 imprints noted at this address)
65 Duane Street 1892-1894
72-76 Walker Street 1894-1899
52-58 Duane Street 1899-1902
23, 25, and 27 City Hall Place 1902-
The Daisy Series was published from 1898-1901 by the F.M. Lupton Publishing Co. and included 87 titles. Given the addresses above, the title below dates from 1899 to 1902.
Jackets are common to the series with a design that carries over to the bookbinding. The series name is not on the front of the jacket or spine.
The jacket rear includes the series name, size, cost (.30 cents) and a list of the 87 titles.
The decorative binding in three colors and gold is a stylized flower, not much like a daisy but maybe close enough for a .30 cent book. No mention of the series is to be found on or in the book itself.
One illustration faces the title page. No date or copyright information is included in the book.
