Month: January 2009

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This past Saturday, while you were munching on cinnamon chip scones, I was on an epic book safari with nearly all of the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma. We crossed the state line into north Texas to visit Larry McMurtry’s Booked Up. It was fantastic in the true sense of the word. The last image is of just the Books about Books section. I easily spent half the day there. In all seriousness, budget not being such an issue, I could spend about 4-5 days at Booked Up making my selections. There is a goldmine of ephemera waiting to be mined. Of course, I took my camera along, but managed to get no photos of the good folks who came along. This is normal for me (and my family). One reason I brought my camera was to take photos of book trade labels (came away with several) or bookplates that were particularly interesting. I don’t have so much space and money that I can really afford to buy books only for the bookplate within. This ex libris, belonging to someone named Severett Belknap, who was a bookplate collector around 1900, I found particularly nice. It sums up my feelings, and the other Bibliophiles as well.

“A man never gets so much good out of a book as when he possesses it.”

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A patriotic, civil war period business card, from Preston & Sears Union Book Store in Binghamton, New York, having a fine image of an unusual 35 star American flag (circle within a circle, larger stars in center and at each corner). At top is a quote that may not be exactly accurate, but its meaning is clear. “The first man who attempts to haul down this Flag shoot him on the spot.”

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It’s been a little over two months since the launch of the Flickr group Seven Roads Book Trade Labels. We’re now up to 9 members, which is ok, but the very exciting bit is we have 376 labels up, with new additions every week. This week, we have this very nice label from WH Smith & Son’s subscription library, detailing subscription levels, and how Smith’s gave “more bang for your buck”, or ha’penny or whatever ridiculous clap-trap the English were doing with their money back then. Loyal label poster alan.98 has posted a couple other lending library labels as well. I very much like the agricultural library, but the label from Wray’s Modern Library takes the cake. As Alan points out in his posting to the group:

“What a wonderful shop this must have been — you could not only buy books and fancy stationery but take out fire insurance and hire your servants too. You had to be quick and read your books in two days, though.”

Flickr memberships are free (if you have a yahoo account, you already have a Flickr account), so why not take a minute, join Seven Roads Book Trade Labels group and post some of the little book trade labels in your own collection?