Hampton Publishing Co. (New York, US)
Series dates: 1948-1950
Size: 7″ x 9.5″
The Hampton Publishing Co. of New York seems to have been largely a juvenile publisher with some evidence of publications back into the 1920s.
The Hampton Classics series seems to have been first available around 1948, as the only mention I can find of the series is in the Library Journal, vol. 73, 1948. The price for each volume was $1.25. The series consisted of at least six illustrated classics, aimed at a young-adult audience, using plates from the Frederick A. Stokes Co. Stokes had copyrighted and printed this series in the teens and twenties, and those copyright dates are included in the Hampton Classics (leading to the mistaken dates on many of these books; they were issued in the late 1940s, not teens or twenties, if they have the Hampton imprint).
This copy of The Story of Hiawatha is, according to the title page, “Adapted from Longfellow,” meaning it edited out whatever content was deemed inappropriate for a younger audience (in the 1920s, when first published). The jackets are unique to each title. The design is also imprinted on the book cover. The front jacket flap includes the price ($1.50) as well as the series name and a description of the book and illustrator (Maria L. Kirk).
The rear of the jacket and rear jacket flap list six titles (including this one) in the series. A price sticker from Joseph Horne Co. (Pittsburgh) for $1 is affixed to the rear jacket flap. Joseph Horne was a regional department store. Many reprint series like the Hampton Classics were sold, often at a discount, at such department stores.
Dark blue cloth binding includes a printed illustration from the book glued on the front of the book. Type is in gold with a few additional decorations.
The half-title page:
A color illustration faces the title page and includes the illustrator’s name.
The copyright page indicates the Frederic A. Stokes Company, with a date of 1910 (MCMX). This was likely the original publication of this title by stokes.
