Chapter 436 Happy Independence Day!

Ok, it’s a day early, but I don’t usually post on Saturdays, so I’ll leave my July 4 greetings for you today.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

I Hear America Singing.

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe
and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off
work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deck-
hand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing
as he stands,
The woodcutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morn-
ing, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work,
or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young
fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Chapter 435 And This Summer . . .

I posted about last summer’s cross-country adventure yesterday. I realize I haven’t posted much about my two favorite characters, Tom and Huck, recently. Today, I’ll show you what we’ve been up to this summer:

Visiting with old friends:

Thoughtful Husband is on the left. My neighbor, who introduced me to TH when we were 16, is next to TH. The man next to me attended nursery school and elementary school with me and then high school with TH. We’ve been friends for a long time. Now our kids are friends, too. We look a little grubby in this photo not just because we’re getting older, but because we were camping when we took the photo.

What else have I been doing this summer? Nurturing a small vegetable garden:

But what about those two mischief-makers, Tom and Huck? What are they doing?

Huck (age eight) went to football camp. (Not to worry; it’s non-tackle for his age group).

Huck loved being at football camp, which was every afternoon for one week. He is more determined than ever to play tackle football. (!) That’s him in the red shirt, looking every bit the serious competitor.

Meanwhile, Tom is home practicing his skateboard tricks while Huck mugs for the camera:

And if defying gravity on a skateboard isn’t enough, Tom (age 11) was invited to a surf lesson/birthday party recently. Here he is in his wetsuit, getting ready to get in the Pacific Ocean. (!)

I was a little worried about riptides and sharks (hey, that’s what us mothers are for — to worry about all that might go wrong and try to prevent it from happening to our kids. It’s a neverending task. Of course, it’s also our job to step out of the way after reasonable preparation and precaution.)

Tom did great, and I was happy to see a number of other mothers and fathers at the beach that day. Here he is standing on his surfboard. I had to restrain myself from shouting, “Are you being careful?” from the beach. He was with an instructor, though, so I thought I’d let the instructor handle everything while I watched from the dry, warm comfort of the sand.

We’re off to a good start and enjoying our summer. I hope you are as well.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 434 One Year Ago

One year ago, our family’s great RV adventure across six states (California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana) had just begun. Oh, how I wish we could make this trip again! It was filled with fun, adventure, unexpected bumps in the road, and even a few wrong turns, but it was the best vacation we’ve ever taken. Even though we’ve not planned to travel great distances this summer, we are having plenty of adventure here. I’ll share what we’ve been up to in the next day or so. Part of me still really wants to leave California and move to Wyoming or South Dakota. I don’t think that will ever actually happen, but when I look at the photos, I want to go back.

Because I enjoy reminding myself of our open road adventure, here are a few favorite photos from last year’s trip:

Bandits in Deadwood, South Dakota

Bears, South Dakota

Buffalo, Yellowstone National Park

Salt Lake City, Utah

Crazy Horse Monument, South Dakota

Badlands, South Dakota

Independence Day at Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota

Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead, South Dakota (the high point of the trip for me!)

(Prairie dog, South Dakota)

Bucking bronco at the Cody Night Rodeo, Cody, Wyoming

Huck being silly

Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming/Montana

Near Independence Rock, Wyoming

What she said:

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 433 Bella Union Theatre Broadside, Or, Miss Lottie Elliott In Her Great Skipping Rope Specialty

According to the Encyclopedia of Ephemera, a broadside “is a single-sided printed sheet of virtually any size . . . Subject matter is also widely disparate. The broadside may be a theatre bill, a royal proclamation, or a public apology. It must be said that the term is so generalized as to be almost meaningless. Its imprecision must be ascribed to the wide range of situations that called for the printed word in the era before the popular newspaper. The broadside appeared as a formal pronouncement in matters of law and order; as a purveyor of warning in emergency; as an instrument of protest, political controversy, and in the form of ballad, verse, and satire; and as commercial advertising. It was in fact the universal medium of expression at every level, augmented only — for the more literate — by the pamphlet.”

Here’s an example of a broadside that falls in the theatre bill category:

Measuring 4 3/4″ x 8 1/2″ and advertising a performance that was to take place June 2, 1879, the broadside mentions the theater’s address — Kearny Street between Washington and Jackson — as well as many interesting performances: “Somnambulism” [sleepwalking], The Great Zittella [awful name] “In her Specialties” [we can only speculate as to what those might be], Mr. John Gilbert “in his Grotesque and Humorous Specialties”, and Miss Lottie Elliott “In her great SKIPPING ROPE SPECIALTY!”

Must have been quite a show.

I purchased this broadside for a variety of reasons:
* It is a piece of pre-1906 earthquake San Francisco ephemera.

* It’s from the notorious Barbary Coast days in San Francisco.

* The list of performers and their “specialties” is interesting and chuckleworthy.

* There’s also a story to tell about the proprietors of the theater at that time, Samuel Tetlow and W. Skeantlebury.

According to Herbert Asbury’s book, The Barbary Coast,

“The Bella Union, at Washington and Kearny streets, was probably the most popular resort ever operated on the Barbary Coast. It was the favorite haunt of the young bloods of the town whenever they wanted to see a bit of life in the raw, or at least what they regarded as raw, and no sailor considered his shore liberty in San Francisco complete unless it included a visit to the Bella Union . . . An occasional theatrical performance was staged in the Bella Union during gold-rush days, but gambling remained the principal business of the resort until 1856. It was closed after the vigilante uprising of that year, but was soon re-opened as a melodeon by Samuel Tetlow, who operated the house successfully until 1880, when he shot and killed his partner, Billy Skeantlebury. Tetlow was acquitted on a plea of self-defense. A few months later he sold the Bella Union and retired to private life, but his wife died, and he became enamored of a chorus girl, who soon reduced him to poverty. He died a pauper.”

Not only that, but the advertising for the theater concealed some of what actually what on there:

“Under Tetlow’s management the Bella Union was advertised mainly by dodgers [broadsides like this one] thrown about the streets. The beauty and shapeliness of the female performers were not mentioned, nor was the fact that the performance might be highly objectionable to the sensitive indicated in any way.”

While the advertisements may have only hinted at the activities at the Bella Union, “the shows were sufficiently bawdy to cause considerable journalistic comment.”

In 1869, a reporter for the San Francisco Call wrote of the Bella Union,

“Songs and dances of licentious and profane character while away the hours of the evening, and all that can pander to that morbid desire of the rabble for obscenity is served in superior style.”

Though it burnt and was rebuilt several times from its original appearance in the Gold Rush days, the Bella Union was a San Francisco fixture until it was brought down by the Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

I just love little scraps of history like this one.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 432 Interesting Ephemera Finds, Part 3

I need more hours than there are in a day right now. It was another busy weekend that was filled with fun activities but left little time for blogging. Here’s interesting ephemera find #3 — a 19th century broadside from a San Francisco theater. I’ll give more details tomorrow, as I should have more time to write then. Meanwhile, here’s the broadside:

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 431 Interesting Epehemera Finds, Part 2

It’s been a busy day today, with little time for blogging. I’m going to post some photos of another fun ephemera find, a “Pictorial Review Theater” from the early 20th century. It’s a sheet of characters from the story Cinderella. Mothers could buy a cardboard stage (not included here) and then order sheets of characters from famous fairy tales. The children could cut out the characters (much like paper dolls) and use them to perform the play. A charming idea, “for bad weather days”. Enjoy!

Chapter 430 Interesting Ephemera Finds, Part 1, Or, Why Do Fools Fall in Love?

What was it I said about purchasing ephemera a few days ago?

One of my specialties is books by or about American women, so when I started to look for ephemera, I decided to start with what I know — I began to look for broadsides, advertisements, pamphlets, etc. written by or about or printed by women. I decided that I would not, for now, buy other ephemera unless I found it unusual or extremely appealing.

My resolve to stick with a specialty when it comes to ephemera was obliterated almost as soon as I uttered the words “unless I found it unusual or extremely appealing”. So many bits and pieces of ephemera have a visual appeal that I just impetuously fall in love at first sight. Momentarily forgetting that ephemera was never meant to last, I am blinded by the power of ephemera’s good looks, and I succumb and buy it on the spot.

Other times, pieces of ephemera deal with parts of the past with which I am enamored. In the past weeks, I’ve purchased pieces of ephemera dealing with the following subjects — wagon making (the kind of wagon drawn by a team of horses), supplies for power plants (the development and use of electricity), San Francisco before the 1906 earthquake, 19th century education, and paper and covers used for books. I know I will enjoy researching these and putting them in historical context when I write their bibliographic descriptions. I’ll be posting them on the blog, too.

If such finds were outside of my normal specialty, then what was my criteria for undisciplined purchasing or such a disparate array of items?

Um. (I’m thinking of a good answer.)

Um. (Really I am.)

Um. ( Just a minute.)

This answer may be simplistic, the kind a rookie like me tends to give when put on the spot, but it’s true:

1) I just liked what I saw.

2) The price for what I bought was right. None of the items required a very large investment.

3) I think I can sell the items at a reasonable profit.

4) I’m willing to live with the items if I can’t sell them.

Today I’ll show you some biblio-ephemera. Might as well start with something to which we can all relate.

Here’s the first of my recent purchases. It’s an undated American trade catalogue that at first glance I would say is late 19th or early 20th century. It’s quite possible that further research will prove me wrong, but for now, here it is:

Inside the catalogue are many samples of types and colors of paper that can be used for book covers, including paper textured to look like lizard skin:

There are many other loose scraps of paper of varying textures in the catalogue.

Here’s another early 20th century catalogue (1912) that I think of as a companion piece to the cover catalogue. This one sells book paper and commercial printing paper. Here are a few images:

Why did I fall in love with this item? In this culture of electronics and Kindles and computers, a catalogue for the materials used to make and bind printed material is a reminder of the stability and enduring qualities of a book. I love that.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 429 Blogging about Ephemera

If you’ve been trying to post a comment to this blog today with no success, I can only give you that not-so-useful information that something has gone awry with the Comments box. I am working on fixing the problem and will let you know when it’s resolved. Meanwhile, I received the following comment from a reader today and, frustratingly, was unable to post it in the Comments box. Since it contains useful information, I am posting it here:

“As a bookseller and collector of books and ephemera, I’ve connected my primary ephemera collecting interest (book trade ephemera) to books in general, from publishers and sellers to authors and printers. Ephemera such as billheads, bookshop labels, ad covers (envelopes), ex libris, correspondence, etc. comprise my collection. Some pieces may relate to a specific book, but most relate to various aspects of the book trade. You might find some of the items interesting that I’ve featured on my blog about the collection. Best of luck with growing your collection!”

I encourage you to check out Chuck’s blog. It’s got oodles of fantastic pictures of all types of biblio-ephemera. Go on over and knock yourself out. Then when you’re done you can check out his two other blogs: Archaeolibris and Paper Matters. Archaeolibris is a collection of ephemera (and other detritus) found in old books (fascinating!). Paper Matters covers non-book-related ephemera. And for those of you who want a bit of interactivity, Chuck was also kind enough to share the following: “Here’s a site (ning) I’m a member of that you might like: The Ephemera Network. It’s a friendly community of ephemera collectors and dealers, or those interested in learning more about ephemera.”

I’d love to hear about any other ephemera blogs out there.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 428 Learning More about Ephemera, Or, The Girl for the Job?

An important message from your antiquarian bookseller:

Sorry not to have posted anything for the past few days. I abhor it when bloggers I read regularly take a sudden unexplained hiatus, and here I’ve gone and done just that. We’re still settling into a summertime “routine” around here, and I keep thinking I’ll have time to blog in the late afternoons. Unfortunately, that just hasn’t worked out to be the case. Though you might presume that I’m busy with important research or mailing my Dante catalogue, your presumption is incorrect. I’m doing things like blowing up the Slip and Slide for the kids and drinking lemonade on the porch with my neighbor and feeding hungry boys (amazing how much growing boys can eat) all day long. I’m also driving them to swim practice and football camp. In between, I’m reading my books for Rare Book School. I think I’ll be able to stick to my regular posting schedule this week, and, if I can’t, I may from time to time re-post some of my earliest posts on becoming an antiquarian bookseller for those who might be new to the blog.

And now for our previously scheduled post . . .

Regular readers know I’ve spent the past few weeks trying to learn more about collecting and selling ephemera. While my primary focus is books, I’m also interested in the way ephemera can be used to complement a book collection or can form its own stand-alone collection. I wrote an earlier post about beginning to collect ephemera here.

Ephemera is fun to collect, and as with collecting books, one can pursue almost any interest. The Library of Congress, for example, has a 28,000 item collection of ephemera relating to America. The formats collected include “broadsides, proclamations, advertisements, blank forms, programs, election tickets, catalogs, clippings, timetables, and menus. They capture the everyday activities of ordinary people who participated in the events of nation-building and experienced the growth of the nation from the American Revolution through the Industrial Revolution up to present day.” I sense that, as with book collecting, the challenge to collecting ephemera is knowing how to set limits for the scope of what one is collecting. Here’s a useful guide to organizing an ephemera collection. It includes a glossary of ephemera-related terms.

One of my specialties is books by or about American women, so when I started to look for ephemera, I decided to start with what I know — I began to look for broadsides, advertisements, pamphlets, etc. written by or about or printed by women. I decided that I would not, for now, buy other ephemera unless I found it unusual or extremely appealing. (I should just learn never to add the “unless” clause. More to come on that later this week.)

First, I found an 1890s board game, “Round the World with Nellie Bly”, which is possibly the first board game to feature an American woman as its theme. Though I’ve located a couple of good reference books about American board games, I’ve been unable to substantiate this fact thus far. I still need to check some other resources.

Most recently, I came across this advertising pamphlet, for Mum Deodorant, manufactured by Bristol-Myers Company and printed in 1952.

Entitled, “The Girl for the Job?”, it’s a six-page, accordion-folded pamphlet with grooming advice for working girls, including a daily and weekly checklist of good hygiene and grooming. Read it for yourself. I’ve added some commentary in between the images about what appealed to me when I purchased it.

I love this cover, from the retro-looking working girl to the types of jobs advertised in the classified ads that appear in the background. It gives us a sense of the jobs a woman might expect to find in America in 1952: secretary, typist, clerk, stenographer, etc. Where are all the woman booksellers?

The graphics and type on this pamphlet just make me think of the 1950s — from the bold red and black colors to hat, handbag, and gloves worn by the woman in the picture.

I’m all for checklists, but, really, if you need to be reminded to brush your teeth and put on clean underwear, you might not be the right person for the job in any case!

I suppose someone looking at the pamphlet from a feminist point-of-view might make note of the fact that all of the things the “girl” (as opposed to a full-fledged woman) needs for the job are “daintiness” and “good grooming”. There’s no mention of the need for ambition, drive, education, and experience, though I’m not sure that would have been appropriate for a deodorant advertisement (which relates to grooming) anyway. In any case, the pamphlet is an interesting snapshot of advice for the working girl in early 1950s America.

What are my plans for this pamphlet? Well, if you’re an ephemera collector, you can purchase it through the blog for $25, or perhaps you’ll see it for sale at a future book fair, probably next to this book, also about a career-minded gal. That’s one way ephemera can complement a book:

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 427 Upcoming Book Fairs

Right now summer is just beginning. The crazy days of September, when the kids return to school and sports schedules, when it’s my birthday and Huck’s, and when it’s our school’s annual Carnival, seem (thankfully) far away on the horizon. Book fairs, too, seem far away, with almost none in Northern California during the summer months.

Even though all of these things won’t take place until some point in the future, I’ve been busy preparing for them, including signing the contracts for various book fairs that will take place in that extremely busy month of September and in the months following. First, it’s the Santa Monica Book, Print, Photo, and Paper Fair on September 12-13, 2009.

The following weekend, on Saturday, September 19, 2009, I will be at the Central Valley Antiquarian Book Fair, also known as the Sacramento Fair.

A few weeks later, on Sunday, October 25, I will be exhibiting at a new book fair, the Golden Gate Park Book Fair. I’m looking forward to this fair, as it’s held in the Hall of Flowers and admission for shoppers is free. The fair’s organizer also sponsors three vintage paper (ephemera) shows during the year. If I can develop enough of an ephemera collection, I may consider exhibiting at one of the vintage paper shows next year.

Finally, far off in the distance, on February 5-6, 2010, I will be exhibiting at the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print, and Paper Fair.

Hope to see you at one or all of these shows. When the time draws closer, don’t hesitate to email for free passes.