Bibliophemera

The Protective Association for Publishers and Booksellers was established in New York in 1888 in an attempt to help protect copyrights and enable publishers and authors to keep more of the profits. Regional publishers such as A.M. Thayer, were early pioneers in this effort. Authors such as Mark Twain were paid in royalties tied to the subscription orders. Twain, through his financially backed publishing company, Charles L. Webster & Company, also earned income this way from the publication of Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. A number of publishers used a network of subscription agents to secure orders that they'd take back to the publisher for fulfillment. They were contractually forbidden to sell to retail stores, which in turn would undercut the subscription prices that were generally two to three times higher than similar publications in retail stores. The agents at times wound up with overstock and the temptation was too much to make a buck. Add the piracy issue with cheap k...

I recently went to Austin for a meeting of the Texas Booksellers Association and had the pleasure beforehand of visiting with Bill Holman in his studio. I enjoyed hearing more stories about his book, The Orphans' Nine Commandments , the writing process, and anecdotes and history about books, booksellers, printing and ephemera. Several months ago, he told me he had set aside some ephemera I might like and I could get it on my next trip to Austin. Last week, he handed me a large folder chock-full of print ephemera treasure. I was truly touched by his generosity. As a printer, publisher, and designer, Mr. Holman's gift to me pertained to print ephemera created for items such as publishers' book announcements and printing exhibit brochures and prospectuses--a number of them from the Book Club of California . Many, if not all, will eventually find their way onto this blog, but one jumped out at me right away for its timeliness (more on that further down) and I thought I'd ...