The Bad Boy Abroad (Non-Peck)
Ogilvie Earlier Edition

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George Maclean Rose was born in Scotland in 1829. After wandering through several printing organizations, he joined Mr. Robert Hunter to form Hunter, Rose and Company, a printing and binding company. Hunter died in 1877 and one year later Rose’s brother Daniel, an experienced printer, joined the company. There was no name change at that time.

There were three brothers who formed the Belford Brothers -Alexander,Charles and J. Robert. The brothers along with James Clarke formed the Belford Brothers. Alexander Belford and James Clarke moved to Chicago to become the Belford, Clarke Company. In 1878 J. Robert Belford along with with George Rose set up the Rose-Belford Publishing Company. In 1883 when Robert Belford left for New York, George Rose reorganized to start up the Rose Publishing Company. The Rose Publishing Company failed in 1894.

Currently I am aware of three Peck titles that Rose published. The Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa editions are noted below.

The Rose Publishing firm printed Peck’s Fun as per this advertisement from the March, 1883 Rose Library.

Rose also published two editions of The Grocery Man and Peck’s Bad Boy. A hardcover book was published with 152 pages. Its print date is unclear. This title was also published in The Rose Library as #41. Therefore it was published in August ,1883. Since the United States copyright date was granted on August 24, 1883, this may mean that the Rose Publishing Company copy is the true first.

This firm published Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa in two different formats. A hardcover 1883 150 page edition contained the first XXXVI chapters (the same text as in the 1883 Belford, Clarke and Company edition). It is most likely a later edition than the 1883 Belford, Clarke and Company version. The book is 7.5 x 5.

In addition this firm published Peck’s Bad Boy in “The Rose Library”. It appeared as Number 36 in the March, 1883 edition. This Peck title received its U.S. copyright March 1, 1883. Thus, it is not totally clear whether the printing of this Rose edition predated the publication of the American first edition published by Belford, Clarke and Company which was “to be ready March, 1st”.

(9 x 12)

Richard Butterworth and Co., London

This London publisher printed A Bad Boy’s Diary without illustrations in 12 mo. size. (7.5 x 5.5). There is an inscription from 1903 which would indicate a pre-1903 publication.

This title was published in a number of different countries. Here is the information about the Australian version.

E. W. Cole, Book Arcade, Melbourne, Australia
This Australian company published A Bad Boy’s Diary by Little Georgie in approximately 1920. It is in wraps at 7 x 5.

Edward William Cole (1832-1918). He began as a Melbourne bookseller in 1865. Cole founded the Book Arcade in 1883. In addition to the Arcade, Cole had a book publishing line of which this book is an example.

For more about Cole – see http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cole-edward-william-3243

This book was written by Metta Victoria Fuller Victor 1831-1885 (pseudonym- Walter T. Gray). The Little Georgie pseudonym was used for this edition.

I have seen two different editions of this title which were published by Cole. The Bad Boy and the Professor are in red in the earlier one. The title page of this format lists only one address for Cole. In the other (presumed later) book there are several Cole addresses. Cole first published this title in 1920

Both books are in wraps, 7.25 x 5, and have the same text in 135 pages.

I do not know if there are any other Cole formats.

Saalfield Publishing Company, Akron and New York
Saalfield published “Jackie Cooper in Peck’s Bad Boy” in 1934. It is a photoplay book adapted from the Peck movie starring Jackie Cooper. It was written by Charles T. Clinton. In typical style for these little books, most pages of text have a picture (photo in this case) opposing them. This little 5 x 4.5 book has 160 pages.

Saalfield called these books “Little Big Books”. This distinguished them from the Whitman “Big Little Books”. Saalfield published them between 1934 and the early 1940’s. They were published in both softcover and hardcover. The two books below are identical except for the covers.

Here is the softcover book. It is #1314 and cost 10 cents.

This book is the hardcover version of Jackie Cooper in Peck’s Bad Boy. It is #1084 and cost 15 cents.

This 41″ x 27″ poster was printed in 1891 when Peck won the election and became Governor of Wisconsin. A number of similar posters advertising the Peck’s Bad Boy plays have been seen. For examples see: http://georgewpeck.com/poster.html