The Boy Knight - Help finding this edition

Hello all,

I picked this book up at an antique shop yesterday. It’s title is “The Boy Knight - A Tale of the Crusade.” There is no year in the book that I can find. Also, the book is a tale about the Crusades - yet the cover is a Civil War Soldier and the spine has a battleship?

I’ve search abebooks and eBay and cannot find this specific edition. Any help appreciated

 

The interior image isn't of the Crusades either. Odd.

Debora

 

Odder and odder.

Debora

 

Very odd... Covers spanning various time periods with a story about the Crusades... I couldn’t find my specific cover either online

 

Here is some information about the author from the site - Bookstore

"George Alfred Henty (1832 - 1902) was a prolific English novelist and war correspondent. He is best known for his historical adventure stories that were popular in the late 19th century. His works include The Dragon & The Raven (1886), For The Temple (1888), Under Drake's Flag (1883) and In Freedom's Cause (1885). Henty once related in an interview how his storytelling skills grew out of tales told after dinner to his children. He wrote his first children's book, Out on the Pampas in 1868, naming the book's main characters after his children. While most of the 122 books he wrote were for children, he also wrote adult novels, non-fiction such as The March to Magdala and Those Other Animals, short stories for the likes of The Boy's Own Paper and edited the Union Jack, a weekly boy's magazine."

 

Publisher's name was changed to M.A. Donohue in 1901 so that's your earliest date. Book originally published as Winnings His Spurs in 1882. Suspect as (much) later edition by company known for inexpensive editions of children books, existing art was used that created excitement but wasn't true to story. It's supposed to still be readable.

Debora

 

Apparently the original novel came out in 1891 - according to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._A._Henty

 

Maybe they were published in series & covers went with that edition of the series instead of relating to the contents of an individual volume? Wonder if others have that same frontispiece of For God and King! (Cavalier?)

 

End date is in the 1960's,when MA Donahue stopped publishing at that location.

 

That's what I read. The publisher produced series of books.

 

Here's information (and photographs) of some Donohue series. Nothing similar.

http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/lucile/publishers/donoma/donoma.htm

Debora

 

This supports @Bronwen's thesis: Two books by Henty with same cover



https://www.ebay.com/i/143613260138?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28

 

Do inscriptions on the inside add / or subtract value generally on an old book. On the inside of this book it is inscribed as a gift from a mother to her two children.

A google search of the names shows one of the children who was gifted this book over 100 years ago wound up becoming a veteran of both world wars, Authored historical articles / books and became a US Vice Consul in Florence. (First, Middle and Last names were inscribed)

 

Very, very generally... Inscriptions subtract unless to someone famous. Very, very generally... Impact less important as the book gets older.

Debora