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Showing posts from 2011

Merry Christmas!

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from Bibliophemera... ...and Margaret & Nancy!

D. Lothrop & Company's children's book for Christmas 1875

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In 1875, Boston publisher D. Lothrop & Co. advertised a book on the envelope below, presumably in time for Christmas since they referred to it as "The Children's Book of the Season." The back side of the envelope offers additional evidence that Christmas was approaching. More on that in a minute.  The book is Wide Awake Pleasure Book , and it came out about 1875, as best as I can tell. I have come across only one bookseller claiming a first edition of this book and the year given was 1875. The address for D. Lothrop & Co. offers a clue as well. Daniel Lothrop , according to a Wikipedia page about him, established his publishing business at the Cornhill address in Boston indicated on the above cover above in 1868. In 1874, he began publishing a magazine for children that shares the name of the book advertised on this cover. A year later, the Wikipedia article states, he needed more space and moved from his Cornhill address to another Boston location. If the

Holiday Books from Jones Book Store in Los Angeles - 1909

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More than one hundred years ago--1909 to be exact--somebody probably enjoyed browsing new books in this holiday catalog from Jones Book Store in Los Angeles. Today, I am enjoying browsing the antiquarian selections from this now old catalog. But it is one of the best preserved old bookseller catalogs of this vintage I've run across. Lest the catalog reader be confused by the title about what kinds of books Jones' Bookstore was selling, they were not books about Christmas, the image above being the lone title. Most books appearing in this catalog seem to deal with exotic lands around the world, travel, history, biography, and a smattering of juvenile and religious works. Popular novelists of the day were not excluded either, as evidenced by the books of Jack London, shown below (featuring Martin Eden). Just last month, I got acquainted with Jones' Bookstore through an article by another old-time Los Angeles bookseller, Ernest Dawson , in his reminiscenc

Pearl Harbor attack noted in 1941 bookstore calendar

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Today is the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941. Maher's Bookstore in Laconia, New Hampshire sold the promotional calendar (Rust Craft of Boston) below in 1941. That year would turn out to be quite a significant year in US and world history, for on December 7th the Japanese attacked the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing more than 2,400, wounding another 1,100. The US declared war on Japan the next day and entered World War II. Lives and nations were changed forever by the events set in motion that day.  The person who owned this calendar filled it with birthdays of friends who were all teenagers by 1941. That young person may not have immediately appreciated how the course of history would be changed by the events of that day. The calendar entry for December 7th simply states: "Pearl Harbor."  But, space considerations aside, what else could one say that day as the shock set in about what had just happ

A Pilgrim Bookstore in Plymouth, Massachusetts

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Last year, I posted to this blog about a book-related piece of ephemera with a very weak link, if you could even call it that, to the Thanksgiving holiday we celebrate today in America. It was a blotter for the Pilgrim Bookshop in Brooklyn, NY . Pilgrim was as close as I could get to Thanksgiving. Told you it was weak. I also lamented that the bookshop wasn't in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for at least then it would have some connection to the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving celebration . This year, I have a better connection--a postcard from the Guides Pilgrim Bookstore. I knew there had to be a bookstore in Plymouth with the Pilgrim name at some point in history. It's just too obvious a choice. The bookstore was run by publisher and bookseller, A.S. Burbank (1856-1946), and was known for its pilgrim and Plymouth souvenirs.  This postcard was made in Germany and distributed by A.C. Bosselman & Co. in New York. It is likely a Plymouth/Pilgrim souvenir postca

Los Angeles Booksellers of 1897 (and their labels)

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Los Angeles bookseller, Ernest Dawson , wrote an article in 1947 for The Quarterly for the Historical Society of Southern California-- Los Angeles Booksellers of 1897 (Volume XXIX, No. 2, June 1947). That article was reprinted that same year in the 12-page booklet below, by Saunders Press in Claremont, California. The Saunders Press, by the way, was operated by Ruth Thomson and husband Lynne Saunders. Getting a bit off topic, researching Saunders led to this interesting article on the history of women in printing . Ruth Thomson Saunders also designed bookplates, some of which are featured in Knox College's The Art of The Book exhibit . Back to the Los Angeles booksellers... In 1947, the author, proprietor of Dawson's Book Shop in Los Angeles, took a look back at the bookselling scene in Los Angeles as it existed when he first arrived in that city in 1897. He states in the opening paragraphs that Los Angeles had at that time "three good new bookstores and three s

Felix Cunha and Incunabula Medica at the Roxburghe Club

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Here's a letterpress print announcement from Herbert Fahey for the Roxburghe Club in San Francisco in 1947. The announcement, with an attractive border of antiquarian images of printing-related scenes, is for a presentation by Felix Cunha titled, Incunabula Medica . Cunha is described as a "Doctor of Medicine, Bibliophile, Author, Savant, Traveler." The printer Fahey, whose name appears on the back, was active in the book arts in California, having served as president of the  San Francisco Club of Printing House Craftsmen   in 1929. The Book Club of California also published his book,  Early Printing in California: From Its Beginning in the Mexican Territory to Statehood, September 9, 1850 (1956, printed by the Grabhorn Press).   I would assume he might have also been a member of the Roxburghe Club, which was formed in 1928 in San Francisco. What I know about Felix Cunha is pretty much what is printed on the announcement about him. As a bibliophile phys

Bookmobile finds

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I'm always on the lookout for bookmobile ephemera and history. I came across both on blogs this weekend, each providing its own interactive experience for viewers who have an interest in bookmobiles and traveling libraries. The Book Patrol blogged yesterday about a paper bookmobile model that I thought was creative and interesting--something I might forward to my younger nieces and nephew to play around with. The architect behind this clever piece of paper art is Bob Staake . Of course, I had to try it for myself. It looked easy enough. Just print out the design on Staake's site and start cutting. Easy, it is not. It's been too many decades since I played with scissors and paper. After about a minute, I grew tired of the exercise. But I managed to complete the obstacle course of tabs and tires without snipping off anything essential. The next challenge presented itself in short order: Fold and tuck the tabs and glue the whole thing together. Again, easi

Little, Brown and Company, Birchall's Bookstore, and Abe Lincoln (maybe...)

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A few months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting, via email, Laurel Davis, the Legal Information Librarian, Lecturer in Law, and Curator of Special Collections for the Daniel R. Coquillette Rare Book Room in the Boston College Law Library. Somewhere in all that she also finds time to write the Rare Book Room's blog . She was working on an exhibit of early Massachusetts law books and found a Bibliophemera post about Little, Brown & Company that featured an 1892 billhead and some information that seemed a good fit for the exhibit. I was delighted to have her use it for The Golden Age of Legal Publishing in Massachusetts . I was actually in Massachusetts earlier this month, but on the western side of the state and just didn't have the time to see the exhibit in person. But there is the digital counterpart for those of us who can't travel to see this interesting collection of early Massachusetts law books. During our correspondence, I indicated I might have more e

The North Texas Book & Paper Show

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The Texas Booksellers Association and Heritage Auctions are sponsoring the 2011 North Texas Book & Paper Show this weekend, October 15-16. Check it out if you're in the area. Click on the image on above for an enlarged view.

Ticknor, Payot, Upham--Books from Boston to San Francisco

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This was a tough one to title because of the two companies indicated on the 1887 postal cover: Ticknor and Company of Boston, Publishers , and Payot, Upham & Co. of San Francisco, Booksellers . Each was important to the book trades on their respective coasts, each was important to the other, and each could have been featured in a separate post. I've written previously about Ticknor and its various business incarnations through the 19th century and beyond, so more attention will be given here to Payot, Upham & Company. However, for anyone interested in Ticknor history, here's a similar cover I wrote about last year, in which some company history is outlined. The covers are quite similar with minor  differences in the Ticknor logos. Until 1870, the San Francisco bookselling firm, Henry Payot & Co. dealt primarily in foreign language books from European countries, particularly France. That is undoubtedly owed to the fact that founder Henry Payot was born to F