Category: Updates

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Curator of Rare Books Stephen Ferguson shared a wonderful quote prompted by the earlier posting:

“The open mouth, and raised arms with open hands turned outwards, is an expression of astonishment very general all over the world. Mr. Darwin explains the open mouth by a complication of causes, but he omits to notice, what seems to me a very probable one, that it represents an incipient cry of alarm or fear, or call for help. The raising of the arms and the open hands are explained by antithesis, they being the opposite of a state of indifference or listlessness.”

This quote is from a review of Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, 1879.

Be sure to pop over to Stephen’s Blog from the Princeton University Library Rare Books and Special Collections. Thanks Stephen!

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Seller’s Description:
Dubuque, IA” Prodigious” Bookstore Illus Letterhead, 1858

Letter from Couch & Gilbert, proprietors of the “Prodigious” Store, a book store in Dubuque, Iowa. We’re not able to interpret the illustration of the man with his arms in the air, but those are books on the shelves. Text is about the wholesale price of dictionaries. Letter sent to G & C Merriam, publishers of Websters. The note at bottom is in the hand of one of the Merriams, either George or Charles. Dated August 20, 1858. Condition: mailing/filing folds. Otherwise VG. 5″ X 7 3/4″.

Sold for $17.05 25 Sept. 08, not to me.

Advertisement for firm in publication dated 1860 found via GoogleBooks.

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That can be taken so many ways.

June 6, 1898: C.J. Veits, Bookseller, Stationer, News Dealer, Book and Job Printer No. 4 Main St. New London, Conn. Illustrated advertising cover. 4 1/2 by 7 inches

A beautifully illustrated cover, with an illustration of a book with a fine binding and the Bookseller’s information on the cover. One of the best advertising covers I’ve seen in a while, and a design I’ve not seen before.

Spotted on ebay:
Billhead of Munsell & Rowland, operators of a steam printing house on State Street, Albany, New York, has illustration of a Ruggles Patent press. Bill sent to G & C Merriam, publishers of Webster’s Dictionary, for advertising in Webster’s Almanac, evidently published by Munsell & Rowland. Condition: small tears, creases, at bottom edge; mailing folds, minor creases. Otherwise VG. 4 7/8″ X 7 5/8″.

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I love old bookmarks. Suprisingly, I don’t see as many as I would suspect issued by Book Stores. I see far more regular trade cards than bookmarks, even though it seems like a similar amount of effort and cost would be involved. Anyway, this is one of the most delightful book marks I’ve seen in a while and had to share it. Of course, it was spotted on ebay.

Seller’s Description:
Size is 2 1/2″ long. The back is blank. Wanamaker’s was a Philadelphia based store that also had a few satellite stores. One was in Harrisburg which I used to shop in before they closed about 15 or so years ago. Wanamaker’s dates to before 1900.

Sold for $61.00, not to me.

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I was regretting a late supper at IHOP, out of town with work and feeling a little low. Do you know what I mean? It isn’t fun staying in a strange town and not feeling well. I remembered I left my phone on the charger while at supper and noticed I had a new message. That is when fame found me, in the Marriott Courtyard in Santa Fe. My friend and fellow bibliophile Dr. RB called to congratulate me on my newfound fame and appearing in print. Apparently the Exile Bibliophile blog is mentioned in the current issue of Rare Book Review! I had no idea, but couldn’t be more pleased. Well, maybe if they sent me a subscription …

Confession: I read every new issue of this magazine cover-to-cover, but very rarely buy it. Published in the UK and flown to the US in Dom Perignon powered golden airplanes, this is a pricey magazine at $78 per annum for 6 issues. Don’t misunderstand me, this is a fabulous magazine, but I can’t afford it. So, when you’re sitting in Barnes and Noble, drinking the free water and leaving sweaty, smudgy fingerprints all over Rare Book Review, you’re not alone. I do it too.

About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes and works as a museum curator.

Visiting with Bibliophiles of Oklahoma member RB, I got the opportunity to look at some of his books. Incredible. Knowing my interest in book trade items, he pointed out a book label that was a little different than the norm. It looked familiar. I was fairly certain I had seen it on Seven Roads Book Trade Label Gallery. Not only is it a mouthful, but a tremendous resource for Book Trade historians.

The label was one like the above. “Scientific and Medical Books, and all objects of Natural History. A.E. Foote, M. D. 1223 Belmont Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.” I was thinking it looks ca. 1905, but an older company. It maintains the punctuation norms of earlier labels (and signs, and titles, etc.) but with a more “modern” styling, like Pa., instead of Penna. Then I found the Biographical Record of The Mineralogical Record, which answered my questions. Albert E. Foote was a Mineral dealer. Not just a mineral dealer, but THE mineral dealer in the US who also sold books. He even had a mineral display at the 1876 Centennial Expo in Philadelphia, which is very cool to a museum person. My museum hero, George Brown Goode, also happened to be there curating his first exhibit, for the Smithsonian no less. The website also says the AE Foote Co. changed names in 1900. Well there goes my date. At least I have a tentative end date of 1900.

Looking through the 22 mineral specimen labels they’ve collected from Foote, I found this label dated Feb. 1884. The lower half of it looked awful familiar. Placing the book label next to this specimen label they are nearly identical; probably printed by the same printer. Notice the second numeral 2 in the address is scrunched, the too small period after M in MD.

The entry includes the info that Foote moved out of the Belmont address in 1890. If the specimen label and the book labels were printed at about the same time, we can place this label to mid-1880s to 1890.

So, 1884-1890. That’s a date I can live with. This entry will be recorded at the American Book Trade Index for future reference.

My friend and fellow collector is very interested in archeology texts before 1900. Given Foote’s specialty, he surely offered many more archaeology books in his time. So, do you have any books with an AE Foote label? Does anyone have a book catalog from Foote? Inquiring minds want to know…

Nearly every blog in the bibliosphere has posted on the Craig’s List ad for forgers. To sum, the ad is seeking folks to: “ghost sign copies of a newly released book on behalf of the authors. You will need to be able to copy the look and style of both author’s signatures.” No one has been able to get a hold of the firm advertising for these “ghost signers”…. until now.

I just got a very tired young lady on the phone and asked about the position. She said, “It was a mistake. A big misunderstanding. That project is not going forward.” She said the ad was, or should be, taken down already. I asked which authors it was for, and she said she was not privileged to give out that information. I asked which publisher and got the same answer only more curt.

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HA!