De La More Booklets

De La More Press (Alexander Moring Ltd.) (London, UK)
Series dates: 1902-1925, New Issue: 1935
Size: 3.75″ x 6″

delamore_logoThe somewhat obscure (or at least undocumented) Alexander Moring Ltd. and the De La More Press began publishing around 1900. The press had a typical array of fiction and non-fiction titles, a few series (King’s Classics, Saint George Series, and Smaller Classics Series [bought from Grant Richards in 1905, when Richards’ firm went bankrupt]) and in the first few decades of the 20th century also produced some very high-quality small press titles. By the 1950s the firm was printing trashy paperback fiction (The Torrid Temptress, by Hank Janson) and the firm fades away after that.

The De La More Booklets are first advertised in 1902. By 1907 there are 24 titles in the series. All are brief, small, but nicely produced books marketed, as in the advertisement below (The Publishers’ Circular and Booksellers’ Record, Volume 87, 1907) as a substitute “for the useless and ephemeral Christmas and Birthday card.”

The De La More Booklets are available in heavy paper “art wrappers” (with flaps) for 6d, three in a box for 1s./6d., or six in a box for 3s.  Hardbound titles are also available: cloth for 1s., “moreen” for 1s./6d., or lambskin for 2s./6d.

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An example of the box of three De La More Booklets in “art wrappers” is shown below and is dated 1903. The titles consist of Wordsworth’s Ode on Immorality, Hebrew Melodies by Byron, and Lycidas by Milton.

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A grey cardboard box with a red cloth tab to aid in opening includes labels with the series name on the spine and the titles on the front (top) of the box.

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The tree titles in the box, in different color card covers. The series name is at the top of each cover.

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Each Booklet has a half-title page:

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The title page, in two colors, includes the date of publication, in this case, 1903.

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