Format #1 - Cloth Binding An Explanation of Series Books

Format #1

Years Published: Turn of the century until early 1940s
Height: Approximately 7½ inches
Width: Approximately 1¼ to 1½ inches
Depth: Approximately 5 inches
Dust Jackets: Full-color paper
Endpapers: Heavy paper unprinted until 1930s, then single color art with shading

Page Tops: Uncolored until early 1930s, then single color topstain

The original format was cloth bound with paper dust jacket, approximately 7½ inches tall, about 1¼ to 1½ inches wide, and about 5 inches deep. There were three sub-formats with some characteristics overlapping in each. The three main sub-formats lasted from, turn of the century to about 1917, about 1917 to the early 1930s, early 1930s until the start of WWII.

The First Sub-Format had unprinted heavy paper for the endpapers, blank page tops, and full-color dust jackets. Most series had a multi-color picture that was standard for all the books in that series on the front of the binding, as well as the author's name, and the series name or title of the book. Inside, after the story, there were often lists of other series available from Grosset & Dunlap.

The Second Sub-Format had unprinted thicker paper for the endpapers, blank page tops, and full-color dust jackets. The new series just starting now had simply the title of the book and the author's name in two colors printed on the front of the binding, although the series that started with multi-color pictures continued that way so they remained uniform (Tom Swift, for example). Book lists in the back of the books still appeared, but a larger list now often was printed on the inside of the dust jacket. A notice was printed a the end of the story to let people know:

This Isn't All!

Would you like to know what
became of the good friends you
have made in this book?

Would you like to read other
stories continuing their adventures
and experiences, or other books
quite as entertaining by the same
author?

On the reverse side of the wrap-
per which comes with this book,
you will find a wonderful list of
stories which you can buy at the
same store where you got this book.

Don't throw away the Wrapper

Use it as a handy catalog of the books
you want some day to have. But in
case you do mislay it, write to the
Publishers for a complete catalog.

The Third Sub-Format books mostly turned to having one-color printing on the binding, with the title and author's name and also a symbol for the series in between the two. Most of the endpapers now had single-color art with shading, along with page tops having a single color topstain. The dust jackets also stopped having advertisements on the inside, towards the end of this format.

This entire first format lasted from the turn of the century to the very early 1940s with the start of WWII. The cloth binding also came in several different colors depending on the series.


Red Cloth #1	Red Cloth #2	Purple Cloth	Orange Cloth #1	Orange Cloth #2	Gold Cloth	Green Cloth #1


Green Cloth #2	Green Cloth #3	Green Cloth #4	Tan Cloth	Brown Cloth	Grey Cloth	Blue Cloth

Memorable Series Books Beginning in this Format

The Stratemeyer Syndicate

The turn of the century saw the start of the Rover Boys series written by Edward Stratemeyer under the pen name of Arthur M. Winfield. This was one of the first very successful series, and some advertisements proudly proclaim: "Over three million copies sold of this series". Soon after, the even more successful series, Tom Swift (written by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, under the pen name of Victor Appleton), started publication. The Stratemeyer Syndicate founded by Edward Stratemeyer wrote an enormous number of series books and worked closely with Grosset & Dunlap over the years. After the Rover Boys started, things really took off. The Stratemeyer Syndicate wrote several series besides Tom Swift such as the Motion Picture Chums starting in 1913, the Bobbsey Twins, the famous Hardy Boys series, starting in 1927, Don Sturdy starting in 1925, Ted Scott, Nancy Drew, the Dana Girls, and numerous others.

Percy Keese Fitzhugh

Near WWI, a very prolific writer, Percy Keese Fitzhugh, started the Tom Slade series. He also wrote the Roy Blakeley series starting in 1925, the Pee-Wee Harris series, Westy Martin, and also a few single volumes based on characters from those Boy Scout series. In the early 1930s, he wrote 2 detective series under the name of Hugh Lloyd: Skippy Dare, and Hal Keen.

Leo Edwards

Leo Edwards wrote quite a few books in at least five different series, starting with the famous Jerry Todd series in 1923. He wrote Poppy Ott starting three years later in 1926. Three other series, Andy Blake, Trigger Berg, and Tuffy Bean, came later.

Margaret Sutton

Margaret Sutton only wrote one series, but it definitely deserves mention. The Judy Bolton Series started in 1932 and ended with 38 volumes in the series.

Fran Striker

One of the most famous characters ever, the Lone Ranger, was featured in a series by his creator, Fran Striker. The series started in 1936 and contained 18 volumes.