Bibliophemera

First one of these I've seen still in the book that made its way downstream into a second-hand market. It should have stayed with the bookstore when the book sold per instructions on the card.  This is an inventory control card—the key piece in the Loreen® Inventory Control System (as stated on the card) for reordering books.  Instructions at the top of the card inform a bookstore worker how to insert it into the last copy of a book as a flag to the cashier to restock that book. The system’s namesake, Loreen, is an elusive figure or name applied to the system. Research comes up empty on the origin, but the system was a proprietary, trademarked inventory method (indicated by the ® symbol next to the name on the card) likely named after a creator, a company founder's family member, or a stylized trade name. As to why Loreen’s card stayed with the book instead of the cashier, a couple of  reasons could account for that. One, the card was not placed in the book where th...

Alfred Lorentz was an antiquarian bookseller whose stock ranged from the academic sciences to fine literature. This billhead features a column of advertising on the left side with a colorful illustration in Art Nouveau style  for t he Toussaint-Langenscheidt Method - foreign language study using a phonetic alphabet - and dictionaries with the same pronunciation system.  Charles Toussaint and Gustav Langenscheidt developed a revolutionary self-study system in 1856 that provided students a course by mail, one of the earliest forms of mass distance learning. The customer on this billhead may have had some connection with the dictionaries being offered in this ad.  Theodor Reichelt  was the customer for the books noted on the billhead, though a Mr. Nebel took care of the payment and may have picked up the books for Mr. Reichelt. A search for this customer turns up a Theodor Reichelt, a  German academic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that seems to fit the...