Author: Benjamin L. Clark

1890s Elmira NY, Hosmer H. Billings, bookseller label
Originally uploaded by Exile Bibliophile

Hosmer H Billings. No question.

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My first post is up over at Fine Books & Collections. If you’re not reading it already, you should. No kidding, they have some of the most interesting folks writing for them in the bibliosphere. Also, I’ve been playing with Twitter for a week or two now and will probably keep it going. I like it better than most other banalities of the internet. You should come look me up just to see my book trade label custom background over there! Wicked awesome.

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You’ve been there. The right place at the wrong time. There’s even a very catchy funk tune about it. There I was, gun in hand, maniacal gleam in my eye standing next to the governor and …. well… I missed a great opportunity.

There I am, hulking my mass to cover Kim Henry, oblivious that I’d already missed my chance to meet and have a picture taken with N. Scott Momaday. Don’t misunderstand me, the Governor is nice and all, but for a bibliophile, there’s no beating a wonderful writer and Pulitzer Prize winner.

To add insult to injury, the paper put my cheery Abe Lincoln lovin’ mug on the front page of the paper to be doodled on over mornin’ joe. Maybe I should try growing a mustache again.

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The finest bibliophilic publication in the USA has gone 100% digital. Except the annual, so actually 90% digital. Oh, and the publishing they’re getting into… 85% digital. But according to “them”, the Fine Books website had 45 times more hits than the magazine did subscribers, so we’re back up over 100% again. That doesn’t sound right. I was a history major, you do the math.

I say all of that to say this: I’m excited. At first I felt angry, betrayed, and a trifle weepy for the scrappy can-do magazine that made us love them over a couple short years. But I was only mad until they invited me to the party. Book collectors have no shame. None.

The new Fine Books & Collections blog will be written by a small flock of bloggers and I get to be one of them! And all the nerds yell Huzzah! The other bloggers are likely well known to all of you already, but will give a good cross section of the bibliophilic sphere. I’m very happy to see Scott Brown, the original editor of the magazine involved in this project especially as we don’t get to hear from him much these days. We’ll have rare book dealers in from the snootiest auction rooms of large cities where they have taxi cabs. We’ll have new booksellers, old booksellers, kind and cranky, academics, and publishers. And me. They think I’m a librarian. I’ve also been mistaken for being named Barry, so there’s no accounting for some things. Over at FB&C, I’ll represent we who do not reek of globtrotting ozone, and only ooze trace amounts of green insidious envy onto our cherished tomes while reading of the book fairs, auctions, readings, and sightings. I promise, it’ll be good.

STICK THAT IN YOUR READER!

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Bibliophile President Lincoln would have turned 200 years old yesterday. He probably would have loved to receive a good book for his birthday. Or maybe a gift certificate to a bookstore. We had a large event at the museum (where I work) and I completely forgot to mark the occasion for all of you in the blogosphere. So, with a small apology, I’m posting a classic from the Exile Bibliophile Archives.

Isn’t this gorgeous? I love the layout, the image, the typography. It all comes together very nicely. I’ve seen it described as a trade card and a voucher. Isn’t it a bit long for a trade card? If it was a voucher of some kind, wouldn’t it say something to that effect, or give a value? Is there anything on the back? Is it supposed to look like currency? Anyway, trying to nail down some years on this little gem. The capitol dome was completed with the statue on top by 1869. Wikipedia says 1863, but photos on the Library of Congress page dated 1864 show an uncompleted dome. Also, the dome looks a little tall and skinny in this photo. That could just be the artist’s interpretation. I wonder when you could no longer drive your horse and buggy up to the front steps. A completed auction cites it to 1862, as part of a lot of souvenirs from DC from that year. In that case, the completed dome would be pure imagination, or based on another sketch.

Thanks to the Lincoln Log (http://www.thelincolnlog.org/view/1862/5) I know they were in business May 7, 1862, as President Abraham Lincoln (a documented bibliophile) ordered some books: “Library of the Executive Mansion” orders books from William F. Richstein, bookseller and dealer in foreign and American stationery, 278 Pennsylvania Ave. “1 set Hood’s Poems $6.50, 1 Goldsmiths Poems $5.00, 1 Homes of American Authors $6.00.” [Thomas Hood, Poems; Oliver Goldsmith, Poems; Homes of American Authors: Comprising Anecdotical, Personal, and Descriptive Sketches, by Various Writers . . ., New York, 1853.] Last item is paid for by President; others out of annual appropriation of $250 for books for White House per Benjamin B. French, Commissioner of Public Buildings.” Pg. 180. (Pratt, Harry E. The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln. Springfield, IL: The Abraham Lincoln Association, 1943.)

I wonder if Benjamin B. French is the same French of French & Richstein…

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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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1860s, Binghamton NY, Preston Sears, Union Book Store, patriotic tc
Originally uploaded by Exile Bibliophile

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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?

Syracuse NY, TW Durston Co, bookseller, tc christmas santa deer tree
Originally uploaded by Exile Bibliophile

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May Santa bring you many books and treats! Merry Christmas everyone! Exclamation!