I have an old book, "Robin Hood" by Henry Gilbert. It says "Junior
Library." It was published by J.G. Ferguson in chicago. It also says
"Art-Type Edition" on the page with the publisher's information. It
also says "The world's popular classics." After the preface by Mr.
Gilbert, he dates it 1912. The book is hard cover and the cover is
green with a pair of red children reading on the front.

When was this book printed?

Also, how would I find this information if I run into this problem in
the future? Is there a web site to help with book identification?

Thanks for any help!

---

Clarification of Question by ork-ga on 24 Jun 2004 17:26 PDT

In case it isn't clear, there is no date...just the name and city of
the publisher...The only date in or on the book is at the bottom of
the preface which says 1912.

Thanks again...PS...If 3.00 isn't enough, please let me know as I do
not use this service very often (I have only tried 2 questions - one
answered, one unanswered)

Hello ork-ga,

In fact, the book was published in 1912, as evidenced by this WorldCat record:

=====

Title: Robin Hood / 
Author(s): Gilbert, Henry, 1868-  
Publication: Chicago : J.G. Ferguson,
Edition: Art-type ed. 
Year: 1912 
Description: 348 p. ; 21 cm. 
Language: English 

=====

I happen to have access to the WorldCat database of library holdings,
so I was able to check on the status of your book.  Unfortunately
though, it is not routinely available to the general public.

However, just about any library would have access to WorldCat and
other bibliographic databases, so you could always ask a librarian to
check on a publication date, should the question arise again.

And of course, you can always ask here at Google Answers!

Let me know if you need any other information about this.

pafalafa-ga

Thank you very much for the quick response! I Love google
answers.....If ever I hit the LOTTO I will do nothing but ask
questions all day long, forever!

Just to add a comment to pafalafa's answer - this seems to be a book
which, rather exceptionally, doesn't contain a date of
publication/printing; but only the date of the preface, datelined
London. (Most relatively modern books do have clear publication dates
- usually on one of the preliminary pages.) The details listed by
pafalafa are presumably those of the first edition, but yours may be a
later printing. In particular, it sounds as though it could be the
edition printed about 1940, details of which are at  
http://www.reading-well.com/si/2636.html   It does NOT seem to be the
earlier edition (possibly the first, but possibly not), illustrated at
  http://www.kellscraft.com/robinhoodcontent.html  whose cover seems
to be different to that you describe. There seem to be quite a few
references to editions of Henry Gilbert's "Robin Hood" in online
bookdealers' lists; so perhaps you could do some research yourself,
via Google.

Well, it is odd, but mine is neither of the Books that Geoff cites.
Mine is indeeed 348 pages, as Pafalafa had first described. Mine has
no illustrations.

Now I'm confused! I will see if I can find out any other information.

The more I read the first link in Geoff's comments, the more I begin thinking....

A) I think it is that book (I believe the 248 in the advertisement is
a misprint, and should read 348)

B) The date says "CIRCA 1940" in the advertisement, which could be
speculation or error (or both!)

So I guess I'm still sort of back to where I began (1912).....

Anyway thanks for all of the help you guys!