Lakeside Classics

RR Donnelley | Lakeside Classics

It was in 1903 that Thomas E. Donnelley, the second generation Donnelley, started the tradition of the printing and distribution of the Lakeside Classic volumes.

Thomas E. Donnelley had a “novel” idea for a gift to give to his employees. A book. Not just any book. A book that is not only representative of the fine craftsmanship that is put into each book, but also a book that actually is representative of Americana. This book, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, was the first in the Lakeside Classic series. These books, especially the early editions, are very sought after by collectors.

Every twenty-five years the color of the binding was changed as well as the type style to keep up with modern techniques. The size of the books have remained unchanged at 4½ x 7½, which is the result of folding a standard sheet of paper (25″ x 38″) 4X to 64 pages per each sheet. This size is called sixteenmo (16mo).

The themes of the books have evolved naturally. The first eight consisting of famous speeches, then almost immediately followed with a fine series of Chicago first-person narratives, then Illinois, and finally to include all of America. The series has even included American experiences outside of the borders as well.

Year	Title	Author	Bindiing
1903	The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin		Green
1904	Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States from Washington to Lincoln		Green
1905	Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States from A. Johnson to T. Roosevelt		Green
1906	Fruits of Solitude		Green
1907	Memorable American Speeches I. The Colonial Period		Green
1908	Memorable American Speeches II. Democracy and Nationality		Green
1909	Memorable American Speeches III. Slavery		Green
1910	Memorable American Speeches IV. Secession, War, Reconstruction		Green
1911	The Autobiography of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard		Green
1912	Reminiscences of Early Chicago		Green
1913	Reminiscences of Chicago During the Forties and Fifties		Green
1914	Reminiscences of Chicago During the Civil War		Green
1915	Reminiscences of Chicago During the Great Fire		Green
1916	Life of Black Hawk		Green
1917	The Indian Captivity of O. M. Spencer		Green
1918	Pictures of Illinois One Hundred Years Ago		Green
1919	A Woman’s Story of Pioneer Illinois		Green
1920	The Conquest of the Illinois		Green
1921	Alexander Henry’s Travels and Adventures in the Years 1760-1776		Green
1922	John Long’s Voyages and Travels in the Years 1768-1788		Green
1923	Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River		Green
1924	The Fur Hunters of the Far West	Alexander Ross	Green
1925	The Southwestern Expedition of Zebulon M. Pike		Green
1926	Commerce of the Prairies	Josiah Gregg	Green
1927	Death Valley in ’49	William L. Manly	Green
1928	Bidwell’s Echoes of the Past – Steele’s In Camp and Cabin	General George A. Custer	Red
1929	Kendall’s Texan Santa Fe Expedition		Red
1930	Pattie’s Personal Narrative		Red
1931	Alexander Mackenzie’s Voyage to the Pacific Ocean in 1793		Red
1932	Wau-Bun, The "Early Day" in the North-West	Mrs. John H. Kinzie	Red
1933	Forty Years a Fur Trader	Charles Larpenteur	Red
1934	Narrative of the Adventures of Zenas Leonard		Red
1935	Kit Carson’s Autobiography		Red
1936	A True Picture of Emigration	Rebecca Burlend	Red
1937	The Bark Covered House	William Nowlin	Red
1938	The Border and the Buffalo	John R. Cook	Red
1939	Vanished Arizona		Red
1940	War on the Detroit	Thomas Verchères de Boucherville and James Foster	Red
1941	Army Life in Dakota	De Trobriand	Red
1942	The Early Day of Rock Island and Davenport	J. W. Spencer and J. M. D. Burrows	Red
1943	Six Years with the Texas Rangers	James B. Gillett	Red
1944	Growing Up with Southern Illinois	Daniel Harmon Brush	Red
1945	A History of Illinois, I	Gov. Thomas Ford	Red
1946	A History of Illinois, II	Gov. Thomas Ford	Red
1947	The Western Country in the 17th Century	Lamothe Cadillac and Pierre Liette	Red
1948	Across the Plains in Forty-nine	Reuben Cole Shaw	Red
1949	Pictures of Gold Rush California		Red
1950	Absaraka, Home of the Crows	Mrs. Margaret I. Carrington	Red
1951	The Truth about Geronimo	Britton Davis	Red
1952	My Life on the Plains	General George A. Custer	Red
1953	Three Years Among the Indians and Mexicans	General Thomas James	Blue
1954	A Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America	Gabriel Franchère	Blue
1955	War-Path and Bivouac	John F. Finerty	Blue
1956	Milford’s Memoir	Louis Leclerc de Milford	Blue
1957	Uncle Dick Wootton	Howard Louis Conard	Blue
1958	The Siege of Detroit in 1763		Blue
1959	Among the Indians	Henry A. Boller	Blue
1960	Hardtack and Coffee	John D. Billings	Blue
1961	Outlines from the Outpost	John Esten Cooke	Blue
1962	Colorado Volunteers in New Mexico, 1862	Ovando J. Hollister	Blue
1963	Private Smith’s Journal		Blue
1964	Two Views of Gettysburg	Sir. A. J. L. Fremantle and Frank Haskell	Blue
1965	Dakota War Whoop	Harriet E. Bishop McConkey	Blue
1966	Honolulu	Laura Fish Judd	Blue
1967	Three Years in the Klondike	Jeremiah Lynch	Blue
1968	Two Years’ Residence on the English Prairie of Illinois	John Woods	Blue
1969	John D. Young and the Colorado Gold Rush		Blue
1970	My Experiences in the West	John S. Collins	Blue
1971	Narratives of Colonial America, 1704-1765		Blue
1972	Pioneers	Noah Harris Letts and Thomas Allen Banning	Blue
1973	Excursion Through America	Nicolaus Mohr	Blue
1974	A Frenchman in Lincoln’s America, Volume I	Ernest Duvergier de Hauranne	Blue
1975	A Frenchman in Lincoln’s America, Volume II	Ernest Duvergier de Hauranne	Blue
1976	Narratives of the American Revolution		Blue
1977	Advocates and Adversaries	Robert R. Rose	Blue
1978	Hell among the Yearlings	Edmund Randolph	Brown
1979	A Frontier Doctor	Henry F. Hoyt	Brown
1980	Mrs. Hill’s Journal-Civil War Reminiscences	Sarah Jane Full Hill	Brown
1981	Skyward	Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd	Brown
1982	Helldorado	William M. Breakenridge	Brown
1983	Mark Twain’s West		Brown
1984	Frontier Fighter	George W. Coe	Brown
1985	Buckskin and Blanket Days	Thomas Henry Tibbles	Brown
1986	Autobiography of an English Soldier in the United States Army	George Ballentine	Brown
1987	Life of Tom Horn		Brown
1988	Children of Ol’ Man River	Billy Bryant	Brown
1989	Westward Journeys	Jesse A. Applegate and Lavinia Honeyman Porter	Brown
1990	Narrative of My Captivity among the Sioux Indians	Fanny Kelly	Brown
1991	We Pointed Them North	E.C. "Teddy Blue" Abbott and Helena Huntington Smith	Brown
1992	A Texas Ranger	N.A. Jennings	Brown
1993	From Mexican Days to the Gold Rush	James W. Marshall and E. Gould Buffum	Brown
1994	My Life East and West	William S. Hart	Brown
1995	The Logbook of the Captain’s Clerk	John S. Sewell	Brown
1996	Arctic Explorations	Elisha Kent Kane, M.D., U.S.N.	Brown
1997	Fighting the Flying Circus	Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker	Brown
1998	Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House		Brown
1999	Revolutionary Days		Brown
2000	The Americanization of Edward Bok	Edward Bok	Brown
2001	From the Deep Woods to Civilization		Brown
2002	Narrative of the Coronado Expedition Relación de la Jornada de Cíbola (Spanish)	Pedro De Castaneda	Brown
2003	The Rough Riders	Theodore Roosevelt	Turquoise
2004	The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African.		Turquoise
2005	Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States from W.H. Taft to G.W. Bush		Turquoise
2006	Twenty Years Before The Mast	Charles Erskine	Turquoise
2007	Narratives of Barbary Captivity		Turquoise
2008	Jailed for Freedom		Turquoise
2009	Plymouth Plantation		Turquoise
2010	Travels Through South Carolina, Georgia and Florida	William Bartram	Turquoise
2011	The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire Of 1906		Turquoise
2012	The Englishwoman in America	Isabella Bird	Turquoise
2013	Narrative of the Narvaez Expedition	Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca	Turquoise
2014	And They Thought We Wouldn’t Fight	Floyd Gibbons	Turquoise
2015	The Race Around the World	Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland	Turquoise
2016	Through the Brazilian Wilderness	Theodore Roosevelt	Turquoise
2017	Sailing Around the World	Joshua Slocum	TBD