Bibliophemera

  This oversized postcard announcement for a book shop appearance by African American author J. California Cooper was mailed on January 5 th , 1991 and got to me via Madison, Wisconsin, and who knows where else, in 2025. On Juneteenth appropriately enough—the holiday that commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. Also appropriately enough, the book that the author was reading passages from and signing for customers was set during times of slavery and the Civil War. From the ad on the postcard: “J. California Cooper’s novel, FAMILY, tells the story of four generations of an African-American family whose emotional and spiritual center is Always, a young woman born into slavery. Her mother Clora narrates a tale set in the years just before and after the Civil War. It is a tale in which racism is replaces slavery and humankind continues to suffer from its mental chains. But Always sets into motion two ironic plans to ensure the deliverance of her children. And with h...

A favorite piece in my Bibliophemera collection is an unused postcard illustrated by Ukrainian artists Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv. It features two interesting, whimsical creatures embracing each other while maintaining engagement with their books. Cat-like and bird-like, one in high heels and one barefoot, one with a long tail and prominent ears and one with tail feathers and no visible ears, both with beaks, and both with books. They can’t put their books down even in this intimate moment. Appropriately, they are labeled Bookaholic and Bibliophile. Might they even be an imaginative rendering of the artists themselves? Romana and Andriy were both born in Lviv, Ukraine in 1984 and continue to live and work there. The illustration on the postcard is a fitting depiction of their artistic lives where books and their illustrations comprise their passion for illustration, book design, and writing. Together, they started Art Studio Agrafka in Lviv where they have produced award-win...

This panoramic postcard from Napoli bookseller, Emil Prass, folds out to a length of 11 inches. The reverse side, when folded on the image, has one blank side for a written message and the other side formatted for an address and postage. I date it to the early 1900s, as I have found examples of Emil Prass imprints for various books published between the late 1890s and early 1900s, which establish Prass at the address on the postcard and in that time period. Those books dealt with local and regional history about places such as Naples, Pompeii, and Capri. As the print ad in the lower corner indicates, Prass was an international bookseller, but most of the books he published, that I found, are in the English language. His book shop's address is given as Piazza dei Martiri, 59-60 and Via Chiatamone, 5.  The Wikipedia page for Piazza dei Martiri  has a photo of how it looks today (above) and Google Maps Street View (below) offers another perspective. R...

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...

Some days, this is what I feel like in my office. Not a bad thing.   This is a French postcard from Editions du Desastre titled, Le Liseur , or The Reader . The copyright date is 2008, Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis.

Last month, I wrote about a lawyer and publisher in California, in 1898, sending a letter to Leipzig, Germany in an attempt to find a bookseller in Europe for his new book (see Any bookseller in Leipzig will do ). He addressed it to Any Bookseller in Leipzig and hoped for the best. Notation on the envelope indicated he got lucky. Alfred Lorentz apparently was the bookseller who received the letter. I thought a nice companion piece to that cover would be some ephemera from Lorentz's business. I got lucky and found something less than a month later. This looks like a "home-made" postcard or ad card from 1923 (postmark date). The paper is thinner than card stock and the piece is cut a bit uneven. Still it got the job done for business communications. A rough translation of the message on the backside of the card indicates that Lorentz was selling everything from novelties to classic works of literature and the arts and sciences. He invites customers to come by and examine h...

This postcard depicts a German bookseller's wagon, or cart, on a Berlin Street around the turn of the 20th century, likely a bit before 1900. The back of the postcard, which may be a later issue, labels the photo " Der fliegende Buchhändler ." I knew Buchhändler was bookseller, but I had to look up fliegende , which translates to flying , i.e., Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) , the famous opera by Richard Wagner. By fliegende or flying , it is meant that this bookselling business was portable and mobile. It could move freely about to accommodate buyers in various areas of town or the countryside. Gustav Kauffmann, according to the sign off the end of the cart, owned and operated this German "Parnassus on Wheels," which appears to have made the rounds in a Berlin business district. It also looks like Herr Kauffmann is parked outside a restaurant that serves a selection of beer from the Kindle Brewery (advertising above window, visible in the firs...