Bibliophemera

This copy of Ship of the Line , by C.S. Forester contains a Naples Library bookplate that triggered an instant memory of being on a ship in Naples, Italy about this time last year (see A Napoli Bookseller's Postcard ). Now, which Naples was this library in? I knew it wasn't in Italy, given the English printing on the label, but how many towns in the US are named Naples? Naples, Florida seemed the most likely choice, but as I looked through the book for clues, I found a sticker on the endpapers in the back of the book that stated this book came from Naples,  Maine . I've been to Maine a number of times, but never heard of a town named after Old Napoli. If you hug the coast in your Maine travels, you'll miss Naples. Although inland about 30 miles or so northwest of Portland, it does boast of a waterfront location--freshwater instead of salt water like its namesake in the Mediterranean. Naples, Maine is a resort town on Long Lake. From the library's Faceb...

This is the book in question: Michigan and the Cleveland Era,  edited by Earl D. Babst and Lewis G. Bander Velde (University of Michigan Press, 1948).   The title page adds a subtitle, which offers a clue to the answer to the question in the title of this post: Sketches of University of Michigan Staff Members and Alumni Who Served the Cleveland Administrations 1885-89, 1893-97. At first glance, though, no question arises as to why the book was written. But just inside the front cover, a printed answer is provided anyway on a 5 X 7-inch card from the Michigan Historical Collections, University of Michigan. This card was previously featured in another post I wrote about three years ago on ephemera concerning rare books and collections at the University of Michigan . I came across this card again and thought it deserved its own post because it's a bit unusual. Looks like a good number of University of Michigan alumni and faculty members served in numerous ca...

I recently acquired a box of ephemera related to books and booksellers--mostly catalogs and mostly addressed to either Lucille Rasmussen, W.E.H. Rasmussen, or both. More on them in a moment. Apart from the bulk of nondescript, stapled sheets of cheap paper passing as catalogs of books for sale, are a handful of interesting pieces, such as this one from Kitemaug Press in Spartanburg, South Carolina--their Handlist of Miniature Books in Print . A folded 6 X 7-inch paper becomes a printed brochure or prospectus or bibliography. It's actually a bit of all three with a promotional card inside for their 1982 offering,  A Book of Many Things . The Kitemaug Press was started by Frank J. Anderson during his tenure as librarian at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where his papers are archived. As the biographical note from the preceding link states, Anderson developed an interest in printing, publishing, and miniature books while serving as librarian at Wofford C...

This bookmark was created for the 1955 Book Fair, or Feria del Libro, in Puerto Rico. Just shy of five inches in length, it's made of plastic and the print announces the date and place of the fair: Allen Esq.,San Jose-San Juan. The book fair ran for nearly a week that year--October 21-27 San Jose refers to Plaza de San Jose, one of several plazas in San Juan, which I believe is an old section of San Juan still popular with the arts community. Libreria Campos was a San Juan publisher and bookseller for whom I can find publications dating from the 1930s to 1950s. They must have either sponsored or hosted the 1955 fair. Their history before and after the date range above is unknown to me. "Allen Esq" offers a clue to the history of the fair also, but I can't, as yet, connect it to anything specific. So, for now, this little bookmark is the only relic I can find online of that book fair nearly 60 years ago in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Here is a Victorian trade card that promotes both the offerings of a publisher and bookseller that stocks those products for his customers. The colorful lithograph that graces the front of the card promotes D. Lothrop & Co.'s Wide Awake series with a subscription rate discount, as well as the single issue price. Similar information is offered at the bottom of the card for another children's periodical, Baby-Land .  The publisher's popular illustrated books and a free bookcase also get a mention squeezed in at the bottom of the card, with details on the reverse side. Those details on the reverse side follow the stamp of a local bookseller who has those items in stock or can get them for you from the publisher. The bookseller who issued this card to store patrons was D.F. Wallace of Cortland, New York, about 30 miles south of Syracuse. More on him and Cortland history in the 1870s to 1880s here . On Christmas Eve, 2011, I blogged about another D. Lothrop...

This press photo from 1940 shows a cab-over tractor trailer truck serving as a bookmobile, or Branch Library on Wheels, from the Detroit Library Commission, which governed the   Detroit Public Library .  This rig full of books is parked and posing at Cadillac Square. Most photos I've seen, or have in my collection, depict bookmobiles as more of the van or motorhome-looking variety, so it's nice to have something different like this in my collection. An editor's crop marks appear in the margins and just under the rear wheels of the truck. In the background is a building with the name Sam's and ads for discount merchandise. The reverse side of the photo identifies the location and date, as well as editor's notes, and the photographer's name--McGraw, whom I've determined to be  Howard McGraw . Curious about the location, I searched the Internet for images of Cadillac Square and found the one below from DetroitYes.com . It has a bird's eye view ...

The card below features a long-standing attraction at the Bookshop for Boys and Girls in Boston from the late 1920s and beyond. The reverse side is printed with information about the dolls and a rhyming announcement for The Spring Book Festival, May 2-7, 1938 at the bookshop. The Book Shop for Boys and Girls, an unconventional idea for the times, was conceived and started in October, 1916  by Bertha Mahony, of whom I've mentioned on this blog regarding the country's first traveling book truck devised to sell books. Read about it here: America's First Bookshop Caravan From the Bertha Mahony biography, The Spirited Life: Bertha Mahony Miller and Children's Books , by Eulalie Steinmetz Ross (The Horn Book, Inc., 1973), the origin of the doll known as Alice-Heidi was reported in the December 1916 issue of Little Folks Magazine. As the story goes,   Alice-Heidi fell out of Santa Claus' toy sack one Christmas Eve as his sleigh flew over Boston. She had the ...