Bibliophemera

Rose Wilder Lane was the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie fame. She was also a widely published journalist and author, who traveled from humble "Little House" beginnings to destinations around the world that her pioneering ancestors could never have imagined. Mr. Pesky was a bookseller with Schulte's Book Store on Fourth Avenue in New York. During the 1960s, the last years of their lives, Mrs. Lane bought an interesting variety of books from Mr. Pesky and developed a friendship with her bookseller and his wife. I have a small sampling of their correspondence during these years that sheds light on Rose's reading interests as well as her relationship with the bookseller, Mr. Pesky. Columbia University has in its archives the records for Schulte's Book Store for the years 1918 to 1959. From the brief biography at the archives' site, I learned that Theodore E. Schulte started the business in 1917. Store m...

Is there a connection between Osgood and The Harvard Book ? Maybe. Not one of your more compelling bibliomysteries, but the correspondence below raises a few questions about the history of a particular book. The Dickensiana is no mystery. Read on... Here is a nice postal cover with letterhead combo from Boston publisher J.R. Osgood. The company's logo and return address graphic, along with the 1875 postmark, provide a bit of company genealogy. The oval image includes a book with J.R. Osgood & Co. printed on it. Beneath that we learn that Osgood either partnered with of succeeded Ticknor & Fields, as the previous name was Fields & Osgood, preceded by Ticknor & Fields. A descendant of the original Ticknor, whose book business started in 1832, took over J.R. Osgood & Co. and returned the Ticknor name to the business. I wrote about this in another post about a Ticknor & Company postal cover . Osgood is writing to a Mr. F.O. Vaille in Cambrid...