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HA!

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Scottsdale PA, Mennonite Book Store, postcard interior
Store interior with press back chair in foreground, display cases and counters with books galore. Note the lighting fixtures suspended from the ceiling and, on back wall is an old wood frame wall telephone. Scottdale, Pennsylvania is in Westmoreland County near Mt. Pleasant, Upper Tyrone and Connellsville.

Robbins R-52721 – Circa 1915

Part of my collection.

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Marty Weil of the The Ephemera Blog and John Ptak of The Science Bookstore have put together a useful rubric for measuring “ephemeralness”. Marty says

“WP Ephemera Scale standardizes the relative indicators of what makes something ephemera into six principal categories and grades them on a scale of 5 through 30, least ephemeral to most. The indicators approximate the printed item’s importance, distribution, susceptibility for being saved, durability, age, and purpose.”

They then break down 5 categories, and assign a score (1-5) to the various attributes. So, 5 would be the lowest total score possible, and would be the most ephemeral item. A 30 would be the highest, least ephemeral thing. These include:

(A) Place of origin/population target. (Approximation of how many of these printed items were made.) What sort of population was it printed for? (5) town (4) region (3) city (2) state (1) country

One thing that could be very difficult to measure is (A) the quantity of an item printed. The target audience is a good, but rough guide. I can’t think of anything as effective, certainly nothing more effective. I don’t like that the evaluator needs to draw conjectures and extrapolate, but I think this may be as good as it gets.

(B) Amount of usage/intended amount of use of the printed item. (5) Single, one-time usage (implying it was collected after use/thrown away) (4) multiple (3) monthly (2) yearly (1) lifetime

(B) also perhaps needs more definition. For instance, how do I score something that was not expected to last very long, but expected to be used up over a few months? Is that multiple or monthly? Or is something “monthly” if I use it once a month?

(C) Purpose of the printed item. (5) Very highly restricted (1) very widely employed, multi-purpose

I think we need some things defined. Like (C), what is “highly restricted” intended use vs. multi-purpose? Like a matchbook- usually limited to the life of 20 matches (on a windy night, that could be very short), or is it multi-purpose? Are there degrees in the middle?

(D) Savability–reasons why the item might have been saved. (5) Very low (reason to save it, like an unused bus transfer, laundry ticket; OR, the item was collected after use; (4) Low (intended for a single use but was not necessarily collected once used (like a movie stub); (3) Medium (2) High (1) very high reason to save (like wedding photos, military troop photos, baby pictures, that sort)

(E) Medium (the physical object itself and the stuff it is made of, meaning that if it was flimsy, toilet-paper-like material it would just not stand the test of time better than, say, a vellum document. It was made to be dispensable.) (5) Flimsy, potentially volatile material; (4) newsprint (3) cheap paper but better than newsprint (2) strong, good book-paper (1) very strong (vellum, thick, cover-stock paper

(F) Age. (5) New (4) Newish to 5 years old (3) 6-25 years old (2) 26-100 years old (1) 200+ years old

I believe (F) is supposed to score the other direction, but you get the idea. So, I want to put the WP Scale to test and see what there is to see.

This scale is really wonderful and it is certainly evident a lot of thought and consideration has gone into it. I think it will be a helpful tool, especially to people who do not deal much with ephemera, to understand what makes a piece special. It could also be very helpful to collection managers and archivists to help quantify the scarcity of ephemera in museum and library/archive collections. Another thing I like, is that to use the scale, you have to have the object in your hands. This cannot be done by photos, or arbitrarily they way many booksellers grade their books.

OK, so let’s apply the scale to a stereoview I just bought this last week or two. It is an image of the Old Corner Bookstore in Boston.

A) I’ve seen this stereoview a few times before, and know this was an oft-printed series. I would rate it a 3. I think 3 is too high, perhaps 2 should be for states and large cities. Afterall, the population of Boston in the 1870s was bigger than some of the more rural states.

B) Amount of usage. I think a 2, yearly. I don’t think stereoview publishers thought these would last a lifetime, but were intended to last a long time.

C) 1. Stereoviews were meant to be used many, many times in the home, or at a reading room, school, etc.

D) 2 for savability.

E) 1 for medium. Stereoviews were often printed on very heavy cardstock, but quality varies. My example is on one of the nicer stocks.

F) 4. The stereoview has a handwritten date on the back of Nov. 1872, in period brown dip-pen ink. It was black ink, but it turned a very dark brown after 130+ years of oxidation. The date also fits the style of stereoview.

So, the WP Ephemera Score for my stereoview would be: 13. For this particular stereoview, I think this is a good score and reflects the ephemerality of this item. I’ve told you before, I’m not above making up words.

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One of the most popular posts to date (gah!) has been bookshop cats. I don’t care much for them, but it seems most other book people rather like them. By the way, I believe the artist intended that to be an inkwell set close by the feather quill, and not a poo. Although, that lazy cat is looking a bit smug and like he’s gotten away with something.

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C-SPAN to Film Author Kevin Hayes and ‘The Road to Monticello’ at Full Circle on Friday, July 18 at 6:30 p.m.

Join us this Friday for a special event featuring Kevin J. Hayes, Professor of English at University of Central Oklahoma and author of The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson, a biography of Thomas Jefferson as an intellectual. C-SPAN will be on site to film Hayes’ talk about his new book.

In The Road to Monticello, Hayes, looking at Jefferson’s correspondence, literary efforts, and libraries, follows Jefferson’s education from a young man to lawyer; from his original estate which burned down to his time in Europe, his time in office, and finally to his retirement at Monticello. Jefferson, mythic American figure and third President of the United States, was an able statesman and politician, as well as a philosopher, a scholar, and a gentleman.

Publisher’s Weekly says of the book: “Hayes… takes us through Jefferson’s hugely wide and eclectic reading with an ease and lightness often missing from a subject central to American history”

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Great image.
Taunton MA, public library, stereoview detail, no date.

L.M. Maxham Real Photo Stereoview c.1870
Taunton Public Library

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STR. Lombok (?).

Books are lent -free of charge- to passengers and Officers daily between 10.00 and 10.30 a.m. and between 5.00 and 5.30 p.m.

One book at a time may be borrowed by each person for a maximum period of 7 days. An extension may be obtained upon application to the Chief Steward. All books should be returned before disembarkation.

The equivalent of Nf.10- will be charged for any book lost, damaged or defaced. If any book is received from the Library in a damaged condition, the Chief Steward should be notified immediately.

Received Into Ship’s Library ___________ (Nov- 1966)

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What a week! Busy, but also very good. Well, true friend of the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma, Kevin J. Hayes’s new book The Road to Monticello got a nice long review in the New York Sun this last week by Adam Kirsch. I mean to post a link to it then, but the holiday got in the way. So, read the review then go pick up a copy.

“The Jefferson we get to know in these pages, rather, is the voracious reader and book collector, the happy victim of what he called ‘bibliomanie.'”

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Hooray! Not to disparage the Natural State, but this is the very first piece of book trade ephemera I’ve seen from Arkansas. Granted, I have not been specifically looking for ephemera from Arkansas, but nearly all states have a set within the American Book Trade Index. Even Mississippi! Not to dig on Mississippi… but it is Mississippi.

According to History of the Arkansas Press… by Frederick William, Jonathan Kellogg started his printing company in 1880 and closed in 1886. In that time he published the Arkansas School Journal which later became the Kellogg’s Eclectic Monthly. Thanks Google Books! I didn’t have that title on my shelf. It is also a very pretty billhead…

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How could I forget the best part?! I was sure I loaded the photo of the interior of this marvel, but I guess I didn’t. Here it is: The Interior of the Book Detektive (complete with pencil and foil label).

Enjoy!

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