Fans of early 20th century romance novels and other popular works know that in addition to producing affordable classics, Burt's publishing also produced an extensive catalogue of fiction and novels for the female audience.
No one is more appreciative than we are of Burt's first attempts to mass market fiction to American women. Burt's early cloth bound additions have richly embellished cover art and beautiful illustrations inside that depict characters and settings meant to entice the reader into their world.
Far from being classics, the fiction Burt mass-marketed to women addressed the universal concerns and aspirations of ordinary gals, such as love, courtship, and making a home. This prosaic and very compelling formula translated into unprecedented sales which, much to the consternation of traditional publishers, left sales of stodgy literary canon in the dust. Books by and for women, like the ones Burt published, never achieved critical legitimacy, but Burt and his authors would likely have been left laughing about it all the way to the bank. Or trout fishing, which is what his obit said Burt retired to, after making commercial fiction printing history.
A. L. Burt's embellished cloth-bound early Twentieth Century editions of contemporary women's novels are highly collectible for their innovation of an appealing graphic format that was affordable and accessible to most American middle class women. These were the books that romantic dreams were made of.
