Riverdale Stories
Flora Lee Stories

Published by Lee and Shepard

Riverdale Stories by Oliver Optic (William T. Adams)

This series was advertised and copyrighted in 1862 but first published in 1863. As early as 1863 (First editions) all twelve titles have been seen with "Riverdale Stories" on the spine. Six of the titles (see below) also at times had "Flora Lee Stories" on the spine. All of the volumes had "The Riverdale Story Books" on the top of the illustrated title page.

There were three boxed sets sold. They were sold as a twelve (Riverdale) or six (Riverdale or Flora Lee) book boxed set as well as individually. By 1880 the Flora Lee Series was no longer published and the Riverdale Stories were just available as a 12 volume set sold by the box or individually.

The Riverdale Story Books included:

The Flora Lee Story Books included:

Format 1.
(Both Riverdale and Flora Lee).
Cloth. (Pebbled until 1865). Brown, violet and green seen. Cover has an embossed picture of children. Gilt spine lettering and decoration. 5.75" x 4.25".
Books either say Flora Lee Stories or Riverdale Stories. The following years have been seen; 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868 1869, 1870 and 1871.

1863

1865

1867

Format 2 1879
Cloth. Green, red and blue. Cover has a line drawn picture of a boy on a bridge and a girl fishing. 6" x 4"
At this time, this format has only been noted with an 1879 title page.

Format 3
This format is distinguished from the others because it has a multicolored, pictorial cover. It has been seen in two different sizes
1. Board covers. Different multicolored cover pictures for each title. 5.5" x 4". 1883 title page seen.
2. Paper covers. Different multicolored cover pictures for each title. 6.5" x 4.5". 1889 title page seen.

Here are a couple of other pictorial pictures.

Format 4 1889 and later
Cloth. Red, blue and tan seen. Black lettering on spine and cover. Cover has a decorative pattern with a boy holding a stick within a circle. 6.5" x 4.75".

Box for the Format 4 books