Chapter 437 A Bright Idea, Or, Interesting Ephemera Finds, Part 4

I promise to stop torturing you booklovers with ephemera finds soon and return to blogging about books, for balance if for nothing else. That’s what happens when I discover a subject with which I fall in love; I tend to immerse myself in it.

How deeply am I immersed in ephemera at the moment?

If I could paper my walls in ephemera right now, I would.

Don’t worry, I would never actually put wallpaper glue on ephemera. Let’s just say, though, that when I’m reading and researching a subject I love, I tend to tune out all of the noise around me. This is not necessarily a good thing for child safety.

I’m deeply immersed at the moment.

For today’s viewing pleasure, I present a 1902 trade catalogue from General Electric. It has a very scintillating title. In fact, when you read it, you’ll see why I am unable to pay attention to anything else.

It’s Electrical Apparatus and Supplies for Isolated Plants.

I know. You might be thinking, “Really, Chris? You’d tune out everything going on around you for a boring bit of ephemera about electricity? I expect better from you, perhaps an illuminated manuscript leaf or early dustjacket. But a General Electric catalogue. Who cares?”

I said the same thing when I first saw the title, but then I decided I really liked the cover.

I am such a sucker for good graphics and a pretty cover.

Then I opened the catalogue, and I saw the 1902 date and the verso of the title page, which reads, “Everybody should use Electric Light, obtaining the supply from the nearest Central Station. If impossible to secure such service, install General Electric Company’s Small Plant.”

The Introduction goes on to explain, “In the pages following is given a general description of the various devices manufactured by the General Electric Company, which are necessary for a complete installation.”

Before the United States had what we commonly refer to as a “power grid” that provided service nearly everywhere, there were places where people had to create their own electricity. This catalogue was printed to serve those places.

The catalogue has detailed illustrations on almost every page that show not only the equipment available (Direct Coupled Engine Generator Sets, Switchboards, Transformers, and Incandescent Lamps, among others) but places where it was being used — on ships, in large buildings, charging car batteries, in some homes, etc.

Lightbulbs for sale:

Though it’s not a very clear picture on the blog, this is a diagram of how to wire everything together once you purchased and assembled your own isolated power plant:

Given many people’s current desire to find alternate sources of power, I thought this an interesting find from the era when the use of electricity was becoming accessible to all.

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 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 419 Useful References About Ephemera

I wrote about an interesting ephemera find last week, an 1890s board game called The Game of Round the World With Nellie Bly. I promised to share with you the way I planned to research whether this game is (one of) the earliest to be based on an American woman. After a search for references about American board games, I ordered and am waiting to receive, Margaret Hofer’s The Games We Played: The Golden Age of Board and Table Games. If it can’t answer my question, it’s quite likely that it will have a list of additional resources for me to check to see who can answer my question.

I’m also interested in learning more about American trade catalogues. Two catalogues of ephemera from Rulon-Miller Books got me interested. I learn a lot about books from other booksellers’ catalogues, and I expect the same will be true for ephemera. Here are the links to the two ephemera-based catalogues:

American Pamphlets and Trade Catalogues
Travel Guides and Ephemera

And here’s the list of the books I either have or have ordered in the past few days to learn more about ephemera. It’s by no means an extensive list, just a place to start:
Rickards, Maurice. Encyclopedia of Ephemera
Romaine, Lawrence B. Guide to American Trade Catalogs, 1744-1900
Fredgant, Don American Trade Catalog Reference Book
Hofer, Margaret. The Games We Played: The Golden Age of Board and Table Games

There are a few online resources for learning about ephemera that look as though they may also be useful:

Epehemera Society of America

Their bibliography of ephemera is quite extensive.

An ephemera blog

Here’s a little bit of ephemera I bought at the recent Gold Rush Book Fair. It will fit in nicely with my collection of books by or about American women, which has a tiny section on suffrage. This small pamphlet has a rather controversial title:

And even more startling content (or lack thereof):

The back cover explains all:

Really!

The look of the small pamphlet reminded me of this book, which presents the other point of view, that women should vote and the responsibilities incumbent upon those who did vote:

My catalogue description for this book:
Beatty, Bessie. A POLITICAL PRIMER FOR THE NEW VOTER Introduction by William Kent. San Francisco: Whitaker & Ray Wiggin Co. , 1912. 12mo. 76pp. Tan paper over boards. First edition. Half-title reads, “Compliments of William Kent” (who wrote the introduction). California granted women the vote in 1911, a full decade before the rest of the country. Unusual in its focus, the book is written to explain to the new female voter what is meant by the terms citizenship, elections, government, and the legal status of women. Beatty was a reporter for the San Francisco Bulletin, and later visited Russia with John Reed. In 1919, she published a book on the Russian Revolution called The Red Heart of Russia. Kent was a California Congressman credited with saving what is now called Muir Woods in San Francisco. Minor foxing to endpapers. Near fine.

I just like how the ephemera and the book complement (or perhaps negate?) each other. Do you have any good resources or references for learning about ephemera? If so, share them in the Comments Box below.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 418 Learning about Ephemera, Or, Game of Round the World with Nellie Bly

I’ve signed on to do a new book and ephemera fair in San Francisco’s gorgeous Golden Gate Park in October, 2009. My inventory consists mainly of books, but I have a small and growing collection of ephemera, much of which is (unsurprisingly) still uncatalogued and will be offered for sale for the first time at this fair. My collecting of ephemera is largely serendipitous: I don’t seek it out so much as I buy things with which I fall in love when I happen upon them. I expect to buy as well as to sell at this fair, and I will be keeping my eyes open for anything new and different. The fair provides me with an opportunity to discipline my buying habits and to expand my knowledge about ephemera. I will, of course, share what I learn about ephemera here at the blog. I’ve even added a Category called Ephemera on the right sidebar. In the future, you will find any and all posts about ephemera there.

In the quest for knowledge of this new (to me) subject, I’ve found a useful resource: Encyclopedia of Ephemera, by Maurice Rickards (Routledge, 2000). I got my copy from Oak Knoll some time ago, but am only now starting to read through its 400+ pages thoroughly.

Ephemera, as loosely defined by the author, is made up of the “minor, transient documents of everyday life”. Though there are certainly exceptions to this rule, this definition “has stood the test of time better than any other”. The plural form of the Greek word ephemeron (epi=on, about, round; hemera=day), ephemera literally refers to something that lasts about a day.

To my mind, ephemera includes any printed matter that is not a book — from manuscripts and letters to train tickets and trade cards — I think the unifying factor among these diverse items is that they provide a link to the past and can give a broader view of a particular time or subject. My Dante catalogue, for example (going to the printer in mid-June — really), contains both books and ephemera. I added the ephemeral items to the catalogue because they demonstrate the way Dante and his work were perceived by popular culture throughout the centuries. I also added the ephemera because I think most Dante collectors focus only on the grandeur of the “high spot” books and the illustrations; I think they’ve overlooked the fact that Dante’s work was so familiar to and so easily understood by the average person that it was used to market mundane items to the everyday person, items like cigarettes, soup, and chocolate. In the case of the Dante catalogue, the addition of the ephemeral items helps to expand the scope of the collection and the way in which a collector can understand the significance and influence of Dante throughout the centuries.

Ephemera can be found in bookshops now and then. It can also be found at antiques shows, vintage paper shows, yard sales, and antique stores. In short, I ascribe the same motto to interesting ephemera that I do to good books: “Anything can be anywhere.” I decided to scout for ephemera at an antique collective today (a shop where several dealers — in this case 20 or 30 — each have stalls with antiques, mostly furniture). I spent over an hour skulking about the first and second floors of the shop. The search for ephemera yielded many run-of-the-mill vintage postcards, greeting cards, and even photographs. Though they were all pretty to look at, I didn’t see anything I thought worth buying. Almost ready to leave, I entered the last stall and found this item:

I saw the name “Nellie Bly” and knew that it might be applicable to my collection of books by or about American women. Nellie Bly (1864-1922) was a pioneering journalist, author, industrialist, and charity worker. In addition to faking insanity to write an expose of a mental institution from within (Ten Days in a Mad-House), she is best known for a record-breaking trip around the world. Look what I found when I unfolded the plain black board:

The board was a gameboard called “Game of Round the World with Nellie Bly”. Even though the original box and playing pieces are missing, the price on this colorful beauty was right. I bought it, figuring that if it turned out to have little resale value, it would still look good framed and hanging near the books by or about American women.

Here are a few close-ups of the game.

Nellie Bly:

Jules Verne (Nellie Bly challenged the journey in his book Around the World in 80 Days, and circled the Earth in 72 1/2 days, a world record at the time.)

Speeding Across the Atlantic:

Mile-a-Minute:

Each day of Nellie Bly’s journey appears in a spiral track on the board:

The center of the spiral — “All records broken”:

Under the entry for “boardgames”, the Encyclopedia of Ephemera has a lengthy entry, which I plan to read closely tomorrow. I’ll probably try to locate some books by or about Nellie Bly to place her in the proper historical context. I also found this website, which claims that after first appearing in the New York World newspaper (how I’d love to find that issue!), the game was published by McLoughlin Brothers in several different styles from the 1890s until the 1920s. I am most curious to find out whether “Round the World with Nellie Bly” is one of the earliest board games to be based on an actual American woman. From my quite cursory research this evening, it seems most early board games were either made for gambling or were made to teach the players about maps, wars, and morals. I did not see mention of many games based on historical figures, let alone female historical figures. Though it may take me a while to find out whether this game is one of the first to be based on a woman, that’s the first approach I’m going to take to researching it, because that’s the part I find most interesting at this point. I’ll keep you posted as to what I find out and how I discover it. Look for more fun ephemera finds soon.

See you in the stacks!