Bibliophemera

I have ephemera touting various book stores as "the best," "the biggest," or "the cheapest." But I've come across only one book store that made the following claim: The Handsomest Book Store on Earth And that would be the St. Paul Book and Stationery Co., at Fifth and St. Peter Streets in St. Paul Minnesota, according to the postal history below:  This 1895 ad cover for the book store claims its superior physical beauty, yet refrains from an illustrated representation of the premises on its business stationery. Did handsome apply to the exterior, interior, or both? What were the criteria for such a superlative? Many other postal covers I've seen for like establishments have included illustrations of the building in which they set up shop. St. Paul Book and Stationery Co. chose to use that space on the front cover of the envelope to tell you something about their business. I would argue that was much better use of the space. Ins...

I usually write about a piece I've researched and can provide some history on, but this one is a stumper. Maybe someone out there will see this and have some information about it. This is an old trade card for a San Francisco bookseller and stationer, E.C. Thatcher and his business with the colorful name, Eureka Bazaar.   Looks like he sold a hodge-podge of items, not just books and stationery. With the shop name, proprietor's name, the address on Mission Street, you'd think I could turn up something on the Internet. Actually, I did get the following, which answers nothing and only creates more questions An 1888-89 Northern Pacific Coast Directory has this entry for Eureka Bazar (sic) at a different address in San Francisco (I presume, as the street address exists there today) with a different owner, a woman referred to as Mrs. Douglas: DOUGLAS MRS E A proprietress Eureka Bazar 1841 Fillmore res same Using all this information has produced not one iota...

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's an appropriate item for the day--an ad cover acknowledging the occasion for 1900. Robert Bell's Sons, the Alexandria, Virginia printer, apparently printed a special batch of self-addressed envelopes, creating the above ad cover for their company and one of their non-printing products--the Falcon Stub (a style of nib for a fountain pen). The company seems to have enjoyed a long tenure in Alexandria. The earliest reference I can find is 1834 from a Web page on the Alexandria Library site featuring, appropriately enough, a Valentine card (below) from the company. They also offer this brief account of the company's history: Robert Bell's Sons is listed as a printer in the 1834 Occupational Directory and located on "Green near Royal." According to the 1860 Boyd's Washington and Georgetown Directory, Robert Bell's Sons moved to 110 South Fairfax Street. It stayed at that location another 87 years listing itself as a prin...