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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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There. I’ve said it. Hold it against me if you wish, but I can’t change. I won’t. Christopher Morley is one of my heroes. Not only for the Parnassus on Wheels and Haunted Bookshop, which are fantastic, nor merely for his insight into the return of a book. I keep thinking if I could get it small enough, it would make a fine bookplate. With a tasteful border, of course.

” I give hearty and humble thanks for the safe return of this book, which having endured the perils of my friend’s bookcase and the bookcases of my friend’s friends, now returns to me in reasonably good condition. I give my hearty and humble thanks that my friend did not see fit to give this book to his infant for a plaything, nor use it as an ash tray for his burning cigar, nor as a teething-ring for his mastiff. When I loaned this book, I deemed it as lost; I was resigned to the business of a long parting; I never thought to look upon its pages again. But now that my book has come back to me, I rejoice and am exceedingly glad! Bring hither the fatted morocco and let us rebind the volume and set it on the shelf of honor, for this my book was lent and it is returned again. Presently, therefore, I may return some of the books I myself have borrowed.”

I truly admire the man for projects like The Book Detektive. The Book Detektive is a book shaped kit that could sit camouflaged in your bookcase and spring into action if a book were to be swept away in the moment of fool-hardy good hostmanship. That may not be a word. This is something I’ve had to learn how to deal with. I for one make it a point to say good-bye to books I “lend”. In my experience (like Morley’s), I *know* book borrowers have good intentions. Often have good intentions. Ok, it’s rare… and they are deluding themselves. To the point, I’ve never seen one of these little kits until one crossed the counter at ebay. Well, the opening bid was somewhere around $70.00. If it had included more than one foil Book Detektive label, I would have faltered and bid to my ruin. However, I couldn’t chase it past its closing price of $153 and change. Heartbroken, I browsed the venerable Bookfinder.com for a consolation copy. There seem to be two listed online. Both over $100. Only one lists the contents, and it doesn’t sound as complete as the one on ebay.

Now I’ll have to start that Morley collection, or start a collection of book reclamation systems. I wonder if there are others? Maybe I should market my own… Hmmm… THE EXILE BIBLIOPHILE PRESENTS….

The text of the auction for your benefit:.

THE BOOK DETEKTIVE A satirical item poking fun a people who borrow books and don’t return them!
Planned by Beach Cooke
With an admonition from Christopher Morley
Published by William Morrow & Co, NY copyright 1938. First Edition, 1st Printing.

Book shaped, folding box in a paper dust jacket with red and black decorations and titles. The box is made of hard cardboard with a pebbled finish. The box size is 6 by 7 inches. Advertised as “A trusty one-volume book police force that will pay for itself over and over again in a few months”. An unusual publication indeed. Consists of a multiple folding box with pockets for various items to help track and secure the return of loaned books.

Contains:
1) an 8 page booklet “The Little Black Book” with “a most important admonition by Christopher Morley being the hitherto unpublished transcript of the Criminal Trial of Pandowdy V. Librovore”;
2) A card “Confidential Instructions for using The Book Detektive”;
3) A card on “luring your books back diplomatically”;
4) Cards for recording loaned books (3 red & 3 green);
5) Cards with sample letters to entice borrowers to return books (11 different);
6) bookmarks (22) with Christopher Morley quote.
7) one unused pencil
8) one unused foil ‘The Book Detektive’ Book Plate (label)

Condition: The box is in Near Fine condition in a Good dust jacket. The book covers are bright and clean; with only slight edge wear. The binding is tight, one of the foldable hinges beginning to crack all others hinges are firm with no cracks. The inside items above are in like new condition. There is a neat bookstore stamp on the front cover. There are no names, markings, tears or folds. The dust jacket is bright and clean with edge wear and small closed tears.