cover

THE AMERICAN BOY'S SERIES

COPYRIGHT [...]
McLOUGHLIN BROS.
New York

vertical cover; title at center and bottom; messenger boy in blue running to right with 2 steps beneath and plants nearby; illustration fills cover; copyright to left of "MESSENGER"

messenger boy

Label with golden border. An illustration fills the box cover, generally having a pale orange cast.

The overall scene depicts a messenger boy (in blue uniform with two rows of buttons on coat, black shoes, blue cap marked "A.D.T." with a brown bill) running to the right down two steps with a letter in his right hand.

In the background is a plaza of orange/light blue stone and 3, then 2 steps up to a split in the stairs of over a dozen steps upward, one staircase to the left and the other to the right behind the messenger boy's head. The staircases lead to a building at right that is not shown on the cover.

"Game of" (in red) appears at left side of the cover to the left of the messenger boy's right elbow. "DISTRICT" (in red) appears at the left side of the cover on the cover to the left of the boy's left calf.

"MESSENGER" above "BOY" (red inner letters, golden outer fill, and black outline) appears below the boy's left foot at the bottom of the screen, with the "M" letter's right side extended into a curl below, and the "B" letter's bottom stroke extended left into a curl.

To the left of "MESSENGER", "Copyrighted 1886 by" above "McLoughlin Bros., N.Y." appears in black

Behind the plaza and stairs to the building are trees, and behind them, a building in the upper left with 6 columns and a triangle on top, and to its right, two spires, with the blue sky behind them.

In the foreground, a shrub with red flowers appears at the left edge of the cover to the left of the messenger boy's letter. To his right are fan palms, red flowers in an orange/brown pot, and pink flowers below to the right. At lower left is a branch with red flowers of 5 petals each, with yellow at their centers.