D. Appleton & Company (New York, US)
Series dates: 1932-1940
Size: 5.25″ x 7.5″
Appleton Biographies were a uniform series of previously published biographies. Jackets were unique to each title, with a book blurb on the front jacket flap and titles listed on the back of the jacket. The price on the jacket ($2.00) shows a decrease to $1.50, suggesting the titles may not have been selling well during the Depression.
Eight titles were initially offered in 1932, and another 30 or so titles were published through 1940. The back jacket flap includes an author bio.
Titles include 8 published in 1932, 15 published in 1933, 5 published in 1934, 3 published in 1935, and 2 published in 1936, for a total of 33 titles in the series. The last Appleton reprint in WorldCat is 1940. A few titles were reprinted in the 1970s by other publishers.
Voltaire, by Andre Maurois (1932)
Julius Caesar, by John Buchan (1932)
Marlborough, by Sir John Fortescue (1932)
Leonardo da Vinci, by Clifford Bax (1932)
Mozart, by Sacheverall Sitwell (1932)
Akbar, by Laurence Binyon (1932)
St. Paul, by Wilfred Knox (1932)
Lenin, by James Maxton (1932)
***Gibbon, by G M Young (1933)
Macaulay, by Sir Arthur Bryant (1933)
John Ruskin, by David Glass Larg (1933)
St. Augustine, by Rebecca West (1933)
Socrates, by A.E. Taylor (1933)
Mark Twain, by Stephen Leacock (1933)
Wesley, by James Laver (1933)
Cecil Rhodes, by William Plomer (1933)
William of Orange, by Gustaaf Johannes Renier (1933)
*Oscar Wilde, Gustaaf Johannes Renier (1933)
Coeur de Lion, by Clennell Wilkinson (1933)
*Mary, Queen of Scots, by Eric Linklater (1933)
The King of Rome, by R. McNair Wilson (1933)
**Queen Elizabeth, by Mona Wilson (1933)
Giacomo Casanova, by Bonamy Dobrée (1933)
William the Conqueror, by Hilaire Belloc (1934)
Sarah Bernhardt, by Maurice Baring & Sarah Bernhardt (1934)
Harun al Rashid, by Harry Saint J.B. Philby (1934)
Robert the Bruce, by Eric Linklater (1934)
Henry VIII, by Helen Simpson & Niccolò Machiavelli (1934)
Charlemagne, by Douglas Woodruff (1935)
Franz Schubert, by Ralph Bates (1935)
Mary Magdalen, Edith Olivier (1935)
Robespierre, by Gustaaf Johannes Renier (1936)
T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia), by Charles Edmonds (1936)
*also published under the series name in 1934 by Albatross (Hamburg)
**also published under the series name in 1930s (no date) by Daily Express Fiction Library (London)
***also published under the series name in 1932 by Davis (Edinborough)
