Uncle Herbert

Several publishing firms printed books by T. S. Arthur's pseudonym "Uncle Herbert". As noted below the Lippincott volumes were edited by T. S. Arthur during his lifetime. Donohue, Henneberry & Co. published books "edited by Uncle Herbert" after Arthur's death. These books, discussed below, mostly contain stories from the Lippincott Uncle Herbert publications. J. A. Ruth & Co.(and other subscription book houses) published one Uncle Herbert book. It has no connection to T. S. Arthur.

J. B. Lippincott & Co

T. S. Arthur edited a number of books for J. B. Lippincott & Co. using the Uncle Herbert pseudonym. These anthologies included numerous short stories, poems, etc, for young children. It does not appear that any original material was produced for these books. Much of the content came from Arthur’s magazine "The Children's Hour" (published between 1866-1872). Some stories were "borrowed" from other magazines including "Little Folks" published by Cassell, Petter and Galpin as well as some children's books published by McLoughlin and others. There were no copyright laws preventing Arthur from taking most anything that would fit into the pages of these Lippincott volumes.

These first five books which were published in consecutive years (1876-1880) are the significant ones.

These books came in two formats:
1. Chromolithographed Boards
2. Extra gilt cloth bound.
8" x 6" (Feet and Wings is 8.5" x 6.75")

The Prattler 1876. 368 pages of children's vignettes and illustrations.

The Budget 1877. 368 pages of children's vignettes and illustrations.

The Playmate 1878. 336 pages of children's vignettes with illustrations.

The Boys and Girls' Treasury 1879. 320 pages of children's vignettes with illustrations.

Feet and Wings 1880. 176 pages of vignettes about animals.

After the original publications, sections of the first four books above were published in small board covered volumes.

The Prattler Series 1879
My Young Soldier
New Tea Things
Face in the Glass
Our Romeo
Boards. 8" x 6"

The Budget Series 1880
Cheerily, Cheerily
Merry Heart
Lucy Gray
Raccoon
Boards with illuminated covers (8" x 6")

Playmate Series 1881
May and Andrew
Caught by the Tide
Gaffer Grey
Boards with illuminated covers. 8” x 5.75"

Treasury Series 1881
Willie and Maud
Sophie and Prince
Out of Reach
Boards with illuminated covers. 8" x 5.75"

The "My Books" 1877
A Clothbound volume included the contents of all three books below.

My Primer
My Pet Book
My Own Book
Boards. 8" x 6".

My Indestructible Books

My Indestructible Pleasant Stories & Pictures 1880
My Indestructible Easy Reading & Pictures 1880
My Indestructible A B C Book
My Indestructible Pet Book 1881
Small 4 to. Linen (7.75” x 5.5”)

Three different cover formats. Priority is unknown at this time.

Donohue, Henneberry & Co./ Donohue Brothers/ M. A. Donohue & Co.
In the 1890’s Donohue, Henneberry & Co. published a number of Uncle Herbert edited books. Most of them contained stories from the earlier Lippincott books as well as stories unrelated to any previous Uncle Herbert output. These volumes were issued after Arthur’s death and thus he had no input into their publication.

Titles known at this time that state "Edited by Uncle Herbert"
Baby Story Book
Easy Words Story Book
Picture Lessons for Little Ones
Playtime Primer
Nursery Primer
Playmates Picture Book
Tiny Toddlers
Who's Afraid (published by Donohue Brothers without any previous Uncle Herbert edited material)

This firm placed these titles into various random publisher's series.

The six book Nursery Primer Series contained three Uncle Herbert Books:
Nursery Primer
Playmate Picture Book
Baby Story Book

The six title Playtime Primer Series contained:
Easy Word Story Book
Playtime Primer
Picture Lessons for Little Ones

Mother Goose Series has one Uncle Herbert book:
Tiny Toddlers

As of this time I have seen Donohue, Henneberry & Co. books copyrighted in 1892, 1895, 1896, 1897 and with no date mentioned.

Donohue Brothers' books (1900-1901) are also noted.

Some titles were published several times over several years with different copyrights. These books have the same content but different illuminated board covers.

Copyright 1892

The Picture Lessons for Little Ones (1892 title page above and the one just below without a title page date have identical contents. The book below was probably published in the 1892-1893 time frame.

1893 Copyright
Copyright 1895
Variant title page
Copyright 1896
Copyright 1897
Copyright 1898

Donohue Henneberry & Co. Undated/no copyright page

Donohue Brothers (1899-1900)

Donohue Brothers (1900-1901)

"Favorite Story Book" published by M. A. Donohue. This post 1901 book has not been seen.

J. A. Ruth & Co.
Uncle Herbert's Speaker and Autograph Album Verses was copyrighted in 1886. 1886, 1887, 1888 and 1889 Ruth title pages have been seen. It appears to have been a subscription book sold by Ruth as well as a number of other subscription firms. This 416 page, 8" x 5.5" volume contains short vignettes. There are no illustrations.

Although "Uncle Herbert" as the author is noted, it appears that this book was collated by Delia Snipe (Cousin Daisy) and has no relationship to T. S. Arthur whatsoever.