October Book Mark from Ted's Book Shop in Kansas City

On the first day of October, here's a book mark for the new month... 1950 that is. It comes from Ted's Book Shop in Kansas City.

Designed for the season, it features an open book next to a Jack O'Lantern, an apple, and a dark house with a leafless tree silhouetted in the background. You instantly think Halloween and pumpkins and haunted houses. And, of course, a good book is appropriate anywhere.

If you were looking for something to read on a chilly October night in Kansas City that year, Ted had some suggestions for you. The front of the book mark lists seven titles with brief descriptions. No authors are indicated, but everybody's reading them.


The flip side of the book mark displays a calendar and a list of new and recommended books--titles with authors such as Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki and Hemingway's Across the River and Into the Trees. A couple of Whodunits round at the reading recommendations.

The Hemingway book, in fine condition fresh off the press, cost $3 in 1950. Today, you could get three- to four-hundred times that amount for the book, the trick being to find a first printing in Fine condition. But what a treat that would be!

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 28, 2009 at 3:13 PM

    Beautiful bookmark! Several booksellers I know collect such things, and Seattle's own John Lang collects anything with a jack-o-lantern on it...he would sure like this one! Thanks for posting. Taylor B.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chuck WhitingOctober 29, 2009 at 7:16 AM

    You're welcome! I come across a lot of bookmarks going through old books, but most are of the generic variety. The ones I like to collect are those from booksellers. I like the bit of history they convey--who sold the book, where they were located, what kinds of books they sold, etc. Thanks for commenting. Good to hear from you as always!

    ReplyDelete

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