The Orphans' Nine Commandments

Here's a bookmark printed specially for the book, The Orphans' Nine Commandments, by William R. Holman (TCU Press, 2008).

Posting it here is an appropriate follow-up to my previous post, which also involved William Holman and books--his and his wife's donation of their private collection of valuable books on the book arts.

The bookmark's content offers a brief teaser for a compelling story awaiting the reader. The red notation was made by Mr. Holman to encourage comments by readers. And I would encourage anyone to read this powerful and engaging memoir and let Mr. Holman know your thoughts. I did and what follows is a modified version of that correspondence.


The first chapter of The Orphans' Nine Commandments will knock the wind out of you and lay the foundation for the emotional, gut-wrenching journey a young boy (Holman) is forced to take through orphanages and foster homes during the 1930s and the Great Depression.

As you recover from the shock of what happened to William, who starts out in life as Roger Bechan and is given new names along the way, you'll learn of the human spirit to adapt and survive, even in a little boy stripped of his family, home, and name. This compelling memoir is fraught with cruelty from adults and countered with the resilience and adventure of a young boy growing to manhood, carving out, painstakingly, an existence and new identity for which he seeks meaning and worth and, above all, love and acceptance.

Larry McMurtry calls Holman's book "an important and compelling memoir." Of Holman's struggle and private hell, McMurtry states further that Holman will take his readers along in a way "that will move you, inform you, and haunt you."

This is a horror story as well as a success story. It's repugnant and poignant, humorous and jubilant. Mr. Holman succeeds in taking us lockstep through his darkened childhood with vivid detail against a backdrop of characters, good and evil alike. At times, it reads like a picaresque novel with the pathos and humor of Dickens and Twain.

The reward in the reading is the triumph of the spirit with threads of hope for love and understanding woven into an achievement of family and success, against overwhelming adversity in the formative years.

The William and Barbara Holman Book Arts Collection

There's a new collection of books at the University of Texas-Pan American Library (UTPA) in South Texas and a new bookplate to identify this important collection.


A substantial Book Arts collection now resides in the UTPA Library, thanks to the donors of those fine books--William and Barbara Holman of Austin. The William and Barbara Holman Book Arts Collection focuses on the various aspects of the book arts, such as typography, book design, fine printing, and the influential artisans and their imprints.

The Holmans (Barbara Holman is an illustrator) also designed the bookplate above for the collection, a copy of which Mr Holman sent me and permitted me to share here.

William Holman has ties to the library, having served as head librarian, from 1951-1955, when it was known as Pan American College Library. In an interview with UTPA, he made the following statement about the university and the Holman Book Arts Collection:

UTPA is one of the major universities in South Texas and it is important we continue to build its book collection. Our Book Arts Collection is composed of titles that are unique to the library and should add to the library’s depth in the fields of book arts, history, art, graphic design and literature.

The Holman Book Arts Collection is being prepared for permanent display later this year in the Special Collections department of the UTPA Library.

Publisher cover to U.S.S. Gertrude, Civil War

As the Civil War (American) was coming to a close, a Philadelphia publisher of "Practical and Scientific Books," Henry Carey Baird, sent a letter to a soldier serving on the U.S.S. Gertrude in the Western Gulf of Mexico.

U.S Army General Winfield Scott devised the Anaconda Plan, so called because the intent was to "choke off" the Southern ports from supplies and goods with a naval blockade and end the war quickly and with as little bloodshed as possible.


The U.S.S. Gertrude was originally a Confederate blockade runner, a ship used to try to break through the blockade and get to port with supplies. She was captured in 1863 and converted into a Union blockade ship. After capturing a few blockade runners of her own, she was assigned to the Western Gulf Blockade Squadron, which is identified on the publisher's cover as Western Gulf B. Squadron.

One of the officers on board the U.S.S. Gertrude was Acting Third Assistant Joseph H. Nesen, the recipient of this letter. And in this marvelous Internet age we live, a few keywords and a click later on a search engine and I have images of Mr. Nesen in one photo, copied from an ebay auction it would appear by the logo in the lower right corner of the photo.


By the time Nesen had received the letter from publisher Baird, in March of 1865, the U.S.S. Gertrude had been assigned to blockade the Texas coast and had spent much of the previous year off Galveston.

The letter found its way through the South to New Orleans and from there it appears to have gone directly to the U.S.S. Gertrude. Delivery time was one month. It's interesting to ponder the route it took to get there. Mail delivery into enemy territory couldn't have been as easy, as noted in this essay on the subject.

It would have been nice to see the correspondence still with the cover, but I'm grateful just to have this interesting cover. I do wonder, though, if Baird's correspondence confirmed a book order for Nesen. If so, what book or books? Baird published scientific books, so was Nesen interested in a book about ship operations? Engineering of some sort?

Baird used the backside of the company's envelope to list the kinds of books they published and sold. Here, the company is referred to as "Industrial Publisher." Several titles about marine steam engines and boilers jump out at me as strong candidates for books Nesen may have been interested in. And this site about naval history helps confirm it by listing Nesen as one of the engineers on the ship.

The correspondence itself is lost forever, unless it resides in a family archive somewhere or with a private collector. Still, it's fascinating to me that with a little window of information from the sender--an address, some business advertising--such a large amount of history comes rushing in.

Bookseller Trade Cards - Die-cut Fans

Several weeks ago, there was a discussion introduced on the Ephemera Network about business cards. Frank DeFreitas, whose holography specialty of ephemera is found at Antiquarian Holographica, invited participants to join the group Business, Trade & Calling Cards and to share examples. I submitted the card below from Thomas W. Durston, Bookseller, of Syracuse, New York. I have found references to Durston's book shop in the 1880s, so the card dates from about that time to possibly the turn-of-the-century.


This is a die-cut piece of ephemera, which means a press was used with a specialized cutting tool (die) to cut and create the fan shape from the paper used for the card. I have two more of these from the same bookseller, only in different colors:



The ubiquitous bookseller symbol, the owl, is present in the design, but this one is holding or playing what looks like a mandolin. I'm not sure what that represents, nor am I sure about the fishing frog's role in representing this business, but they do a good job of making the card interesting. But as interesting as it might be, there is a collection of trade cards that just blows these samples away for artistic appeal.

On the aforementioned Ephemera Network, Tom Murphy, of Encore-Ephemera, shared a link to an ephemera site called Sheaff : Ephemera, created by Boston artistic director, typographer, and stamp designer Richard D. Sheaff. He is also a prolific collector of ephemera and features on his Web site a stunning collection of cards under the tab Artistic Printing Album.

When you're done feasting your eyes on those beauties, which may be awhile, be sure to click the Artistic Printing page for an interesting and informative article on the Artistic Printing movement, developed by British and American letterpress printers during the Victorian era.

Walt's Book Store in Spearfish

Looks like branding time at Walt's, where there's not a bookshelf, let alone any books, in sight.


Here's a curiosity of a post card, circa 1955, for Walt's Book Store in Spearfish, South Dakota. From the photo, either Walt's had a run on his inventory or this is the future home of Walt's. Gotta do something about those cattle first. Looks like the branding irons are in the fire and some of the cattle are already getting their tattoos.

All cattle, no books. I don't know what this says about Walt or his book store. Maybe Walt was a rancher, ran a few head of cattle. Probably his book store stocked Western Americana, ranching and range books. Or he just liked this picture and didn't care that it had nothing to do with his books or his store.

I don't blame him if that's the case. It's beautiful country. Better than looking at a building with his business name painted on it. Gives tourists something nice to send or save, as appears to be the case with the purchasers of this card.


There may be some confusion about where they were, though. They refer to the picture as typical for Nebraska prairie country. Spearfish is closer to Wyoming than it is to Nebraska, its neighbor to the south. But maybe it does look like the Nebraska prairie and they finally found a postcard in Spearfish that looked like Nebraska.

If they had time to browse Walt's shelves, I wonder if they might have come across this 1908 "range classic," Abortion in Cows, by David Roberts, D.V.S.


I just found this book a few days ago and had to buy it for the unusual nature of the subject, the date, and its condition. Somehow, it made me think of Walt's post card, which I've had a good while now.

The book was probably just as scarce in 1955 as it is now in 2010. As far as I can tell, I have the only copy in the world. At least, nothing's showing up on the Internet. Then again, Walt's Book Store doesn't show up in the photo, if you trust your eyes. But I think the book I found pairs up nicely with Walt's post card.

Austin G. Putnam - The Liberty Tree Billhead

Dr. Austin G. Putnam was a bookseller, stationer, and bookbinder, as well as a manufacturer of blank books, according to this 1858 billhead. He practiced his trade at 456 Washington (corner of Essex), in Boston. What kind of a doctor he was is unknown at present.


I had hoped to make a connection to the G.P. Putnam & Sons publishing family that got started in New York in 1838 as a bookselling concern, but no luck yet. There may not be any connection, or it may be very distant. So far as I know, there are no close ties between the two Putnams.

As for Austin G. Putnam, he's proving to be an elusive historical figure, but a snapshot of his business history is contained in this billhead from February 16, 1858. On this day, he completed his transaction with Mr. Gilmore for binding what looks like a 12-volume set of a story book. I can't make out the first word in the title. It looks like he charged $4.00 for that good bit of work. Twelve volumes had to have taken some time.


What I did find was a symbol of significant American history at the origins of the country's rebellious stand for independence. The striking feature of this billhead is Putnam's choice for a logo--the tree with "Law and Order" across the roots and "Liberty 1765" across the top. What does all that mean?


Less than a hundred years prior to the date of this billhead, the British Crown sought to raise revenue to cover its rising debt and the cost of maintaining troops in the Colonies. The Stamp Act of 1765 was a means of doing so. The act required the purchase of a tax stamp for transactions involving all printed matter, from newspapers to legal documents and bills of lading for shipping.

The reaction of the colonists, to say the least, was not very favorable. The opposition movement adopted the name Sons of Liberty and united social classes across the colonies. The Boston chapter, led by Samuel Adams, is said to have had its meetings under the Liberty Tree, which is represented by the illustration on the Putnam billhead.

So Liberty and 1765 become obvious with their connection to the Stamp Act of 1765. The words "Law and Order" beneath the tree possibly signify the need for restraint from mob violence during protest. That line was crossed at times by members of the Sons of Liberty with rioting, looting, and other acts of violence, including destruction of personal property and the ransacking of the Massachusetts Governor's house (Thomas Hutchinson).

The old elm tree in Boston Commons, which was the Liberty Tree, was cut down by British soldiers occupying Boston on the eve of the American Revolution. Could that be the sawed-off limb on the left side of the trunk in the illustration? I thought that a curious detail to include in the graphic until I read about the tree being chopped down.

I also wondered why Putnam would use a symbol from the American Revolution era for his business in 1858. Perhaps his book shop was located near where the Liberty Tree stood. I thought also about his genealogy, that maybe there was some proud heritage dating back to those times. There is no shortage of Putnam names for leadership during the Revolutionary War--General Israel Putnam and General Rufus Putnam are the most prominent. Could one or both have been related to the bookbinder of this 1858 billhead? Could one have been a grandfather or great-grandfather?

Whatever the reason for using the Liberty Tree on his company paper, Austin G. Putnam felt strongly enough about it to identify his business with it and incorporate it into his correspondence.

Ironically, another stamp tax act, the Revenue Act of 1862 was enacted by the U.S. government a few years after the date of this billhead, which required tax stamps on, among other things, various paper items. Revenue was needed to help finance the Civil War. See my post on a related piece of ephemera.

The stubborn Book Man of Portland, Indiana

Here's a letter from an Indiana bookseller in 1907, more notable for its letterhead than anything else I can find about its author. In addition to books and Bibles, The Book Man sold magazines and stationery along with games, pictures, and miscellaneous items.


O.L. Hall, who billed himself as "The Book Man," typed this out, perhaps from his book shop, one summer day more than a hundred years ago in Portland, Indiana. His Walt Whitmanesque pose (Whitman below) makes for an impressive centerpiece in his letterhead.


Mr. Hall's tone in this letter to the Liss Mapping Co., in Lima, Ohio, shows his patience is wearing thin with the mapmakers a few counties over in the next state. He's not about to let unanswered letters and a little detail about Liss having gone out of business deter him from getting what he wants. He stubbornly makes another request in one long, rambling sentence:

Gentlemen;

I have written you twice, and received no answer and I have been informed that the business has been discontinued, but it does seem to me that someone gets my letters for none has been returned to me, and I want some of the Township Maps of this County, Jay, and would like these right away, and I think some one would be glad to make them, so kindly answer this stating where I can get some orders filled promptly, and graetly (sic) oblige.

Yours truly,
O.L. Hall

I doubt he ever got his maps from the defunct company, but I'll give him a few points for stubborn persistence.