W. L. Allison Company, New York
The Fireside Series for Boys is a multi authored series which was
first published in 1897. Initially that 1897 list had 29 titles but as
time went on many other volumes were added to the list. In addition to
the Mayne Reid titles, books written by Oliver Optic, Henty, Cooper and
others were part of this series. When the Donohue Brothers bought
Allison's plates in 1900, it continued the Fireside Series.
By 1898 there were 37 titles in the series. Eventually there were more
than 60 volumes in the set.
Allison only included two Mayne Reid titles:
Rangers and Regulators (not actually written by Reid but credited to
him)
Wood Rangers
In 1900 Alison sold its plates to the Donohue Brothers
publishing firm. When Donohue Brothers firm began publishing the
Fireside Series, it revised the list as well, adding several other
Mayne Reid titles but the cover format was unchanged.
I have seen two Allison formats of the Fireside Series.
The earlier appears directly below. This was probably published between
1897 and 1899.
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This second format appears to be the later one (1899) and was
used in the Donohue Brothers Fireside Series. It undoubtedly was sold
with a dust jacket (not pictured here).
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