Discovered an article on collecting book trade labels today. Written from the Australian perspective, it is interesting to hear more about this quiet hobby. It got me wondering how many collections already exist, perhaps even in institutional collections. Elizabeth June Torcasio, the author, also seems to have an especially keen interest in 20th Century Australian radicals, which I can respect. To whet your appetite:”Collecting book labels is clearly an eccentric occupation. A cursory glance at the inside the cover of an old book, then on to the next until a label is spotted. Other customers may wonder about the object of the search. Enthusiasm, however, makes one obvious to public reaction. All too often there is a pale space where a label has been removed…”
Ahhh. The Good Ol’ Days
1808, Boston, Joseph Bumstead, book dealer, handbill. Click on the handbill and it should take to you larger versions. I do have it as a .tif file so it can be read properly. The long s (which look like f’s) can make for funny reading. I particularly liked “bookfellers”.
From this handbill offering book auction services: “Many Books which now lie sleeping on shelves, or buried in obscurity, may in this way be put out of the hands of those who want Cash more than Books- and into the hands of others who want Books more than Cash.” And, at no cost to the book owner!
1808, nice and early. I did find more through the Library of Congress to be added to the US Book Trade Index. They have high res scans of these, but the files are too large to upload into Flickr. I’ll keep you updated.
Ann Arbor, John Moore cover 8 5-8ths x 6.25
A giant leap forward of information on this gentleman bookseller from Ann Arbor, Michigan at the previously mentioned Flickr group. Anyone have a better name for this group? US Book Trade Index? Well, whatever you want to call it, it can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/493902@N20/