Ok then ....

Well now, after that awkward but necessary first start, (or is it my second .... third?). Lets get back to talking about books. After all, isn't that what we are all here for. Totally random, with no reason at all, except that fact that it looks good sitting on my shelf, lets look at: Horatio Alger's Frank Fowler The Cash Boy.

My particular copy is by A. L. Burt, Company, Publishers, New York, 1887. In just doing a little bit of research for this blog I was surprised to learn there are actually, at least 13 different covers. One copy I found for sale on www.abebooks.com pretty well describes my copy as well. Valued at $40.00 it was described as:

Alger's Frank Fowler Cash Boy

"Original illustrated cloth in red, black and orange on a greenish blue background with figure of the "Cash Boy" to front cover walking along road with bag on a stick over his shoulder, decorated panel to the right". The image posted is my book.

I found another website that deals exclusively in Alger's books: http://www.horatioalgerjr.com/Horatioalgerjuniorbook1266.htm  
and this site taught me that Alger actually wrote under several pseudonyms, including Arthur Hamilton, Arthur Lee Putnam, Carl Cantab, Julian Starr and Charles F. Preston. Regardless on what name he was using, Alger basically wrote Juvenile Fiction with "coming of age" stories for young boys detailing their adventures that involved "pluck and luck" and a lot of hard work later the young man perseveres.

My main goal for this blog is to help me learn about collectible books and I guess I certainly did that while researching this title. Happy of course, to see its value the only difference with my copy is that there is a "Previous Owners Bookplate" along with that owners signature and date on the front end page. But sometimes I think things like this only helps to add some character to the book. That's all for now - back to playing with books - I mean researching books .....