Category Archives: Ephemera

Tokens for Booksellers and Bookmakers

In 1989, Henry Morris, director of Bird & Bull Press, produced and published the book Trade Tokens of British and American Booksellers & Bookmakers. The book was accompanied by a heavy die-cut board folder containing eleven different copper tokens minted by individual booksellers & bookmakers especially for this book. The Graphic Arts Collection and Numismatics Collection have jointly acquired the dies and proofs used in the production of the these bookseller tokens.

Morris’s original dies, medals, and proofs are housed in a mahogany box with a token inset on the top cover, along with a metal plate inscribed “Original Dies for Bookseller’s Tokens, Bird & Bull Press.”

The participants whose tokens are included here are: Bird & Bull Press, The Book Press, Dawson’s Book Shop, Detering Book Gallery, Enterprise Books, Joseph J. Felcone, Kater-Crafts Bookbinders, George Frederick Kolbe/Fine Numismatic Books, G.T. Mandl (English papermakers), Iris Nevins (marbler), and Oak Knoll Books.

The tokens (with nine duplicates), along with a rough flan, were made under the supervision of Meyer Katz at the Unity Mint in Ambler, PA, from dies engraved by Kenneth Douglas at the Green Duck Co., in Olive Branch, MS. The set of 11 tool-steel dies (22 pieces), now coated with a protective lacquer, cost Morris $9800 in 1988, which he considered a bargain.

Lead proofs

Morris wrote a three-page letter and asked that it be kept with the collection. It is transcribed below.

Everything one might want to know about the dies for Bookseller’s Tokens, 1988.

This was a great project, and in addition to all the pleasure and challenges I had from producing it, I have these unique artifacts—the dies themselves. The first set of dies was made by the Green Duck Co (where did they get such an odd name?) in Miss[issippi]. This was my B&B [Bird & Bull] Token. When I got the idea to do the [Booksellers] Token book I went to Kenneth Douglas in Olive Branch, Miss., who was Green Duck’s die maker. His work was excellent and his price was much less than I would have had to pay locally. The 11 dies (set) here cost $9800, which I know was a bargain. The Green Duck dies have no [shoulder?] as their coining press was different than the Unity Mint in Ambler, who struck all the tokens for the book.

In 1991, I realized what a great B&B artifact this was and in order to keep them all together and protected I made the special box. The dies are made of tool steel and if not protected well easily rust. I gave them 2 coats of clear lacquer which should keep them safe for a long time. If there are signs the lacquer is degrading, remove the old coat with lacquer solvent (thinner) and re-coat.

Way back in 1956 when I started making paper, I bought some Honduras Mahogany to make molds. I still had some of this wood and used it to make the box. (Yes, I know the apostrophe on the label is in the wrong place—the book label is [liberize?]—my fault). Also enclosed here are the original lead proofs which the die maker submitted prior to striking (like a printer’s proof—but in metal).

The box also seemed like a good place to keep the original molds for silver reproductions of Dutch Guild Medals, in my Rarities of Numismata Typographica, 1996. I have written the note to be kept in the box so that someone at some future time knows the main details of the contents, also to know that the contents as described, are complete. H.M. [Henry Morris]

Henry Morris, Trade Tokens of British And American Booksellers & Bookmakers, With Specimens of Eleven Original Tokens Struck Especially For This Book (Newtown, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1989). One of 300. Accompanied by a heavy die-cut board folder containing 11 different copper tokens minted by individual booksellers & bookmakers especially for this book, all enclosed in a slipcase. Graphic Arts Collection Z234.M67 1989.

William Blades, Rarities of Numismata typographica: four examples of early Dutch printers’, bookbinders’ & booksellers’ guild medals: cast in sterling silver from original specimens. Descriptions by William Blades; introduction by Henry Morris (Newtown [Penn.]: Bird & Bull Press, 1996). Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Z234 .B632 1995

In Honor of the Printer

Jehne no. 323: Paris, Freedom of the Press, 1827.

Princeton’s Numismatics Collection and the Graphic Arts Collection have jointly acquired a collection of 457 medals and tokens issued by printers, booksellers, and others in the book arts. A spread sheet with basic information on each one can be accessed here: Copy of MorrisMedals (1).
Blades 22: Harlem, 1740. “The wood near Haarlem, with Coster in the scholar’s dress of his time, seated on the stump of a tree; his name being written on the hem of his tunic . . . on the border is N.H. (Martin Holtzhey), the initials of the engraver.”

“This, the most ambitious of the Dutch Medals, was struck in commemoration of the 1740 Jubilee at Haarlem, by Michael Holtzhey, Medallist to the king.”
Verso: Aux amis de la Maison du Livre 1900. Ch. Meunier [publisher/binder Charles Meunier]

The collection is the life-work of Henry Morris of the Bird & Bull Press, who designed and printed books relating to the book arts (with additions by Robert Fleck). Morris spent many years tracking and acquiring this archive of medals and tokens, which led to a number of publication from his press, including:

Henry Morris, Trade tokens of British and American booksellers & bookmakers: with specimens of eleven original tokens struck especially for this book. Compiled and edited by Henry Morris (Newtown, Pa.: Bird & Bull Press, 1989). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Z234 .M677 1989

Elizabeth M. Harris, The art of medal engraving: a curious chapter in the development of 19th century printing processes (Newtown, Pa.: Bird & Bull Press, 1991). Graphic Arts Collection (GA) NE2720 .H37

William Blades (1824-1890). Rarities of Numismata typographica: four examples of early Dutch printers’, bookbinders’ & booksellers’ guild medals : cast in sterling silver from original specimens. Descriptions by William Blades ; introduction by Henry Morris (Newtown [Penn.] : Bird & Bull Press, 1996.) Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Z234 .B632 1995

and many other titles.

Here are a few examples of the medals. More about the tokens that Morris had produced in a later post.

My Dear this Heart which you behold… A Puzzle

After reading about Jana Dambrogio, the Thomas F. Peterson conservator at M.I.T. Libraries, who is analyzing how letter writers have sealed their letters until they reached the intended recipients, I was reminded of a valentine in the Graphic Arts collection. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/arts/design/a-trove-of-letterlocking-or-vintage-strategies-to-deter-snoops.html

Dambrogio has a great website for letterlocking, but I was not able to find and solve the secret of our valentine. http://www.janadambrogio.com/timeline

If you have time, please print out this double-sided 18th-century valentine and solve the puzzle. The heart is complete at the beginning and then, each section of the poem should be read in full as you unfold. Please send me your solution. Thank you.
recto

verso

Unidentified author, [Valentine puzzle], no date [1700s]. Pen on paper. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2010.01172. Folded paper “pocket purse” puzzle with love-letter inscribed in part on each fold.

Title-A-Bar Theory

Type slug for: Princeton University Library Classed List (laterally reversed)

“By 1894 [Ernest Cushing] Richardson had a small linotype machine established in the Chancellor Green Library at Princeton, and he soon began experimenting with printing book lists, subject lists and finally a catalog based on the shelf list of the entire Princeton collection.

Out of such experience, over a period of years, grew his firm conviction that the printing of bibliographic entries, restricted without exception to one line each, was the cheapest possible method.

In 1904 he stated, ‘the greatest administrative mistake of modern libraries in America is the failure to provide the comparatively inexpensive brief title printed catalog.’ For less than fifteen dollars he printed a list of thirty-five hundred titles in mathematics.

In 1916 he estimated the entire Princeton Library catalog could be printed from three hundred thousand bars, the sheets to be contained in six loose-leaf binders. For fifteen hundred dollars, twenty thousand titles of accessions at Princeton could be printed and interfiled each year. Such printed catalos would be a great boon to libraries, especially for interlibrary loans, and might even supersede the official card catalog.”–Lewis Capers Branscomb, Ernest Cushing Richardson: Research Librarian, Scholar, Theologian, 1860-1939 (Scarecrow Press, 1993). Firestone Z720.R53 B73 1993

type for pul classed list4

Branscomb continues, “Actually [Richardson] did print the official shelf list in six binders by the title-a-bar method. …It was a great disappointment to Richardson when Gerould, his successor, discontinued in 1920 the printed catalog in favor of bolstering the card catalog.”

Ernest Cushing Richardson (1860-1939) was an American librarian and bibliographer who made significant contributions to the field of American librarianship. From 1890 till 1925, he was director of Princeton University Library and professor of bibliography. In 1925, Richardson became consultant to the Library of Congress. He was named one of the “100 Most Important Leaders [Librarians] had in the 20th Century” by American Libraries in 1999.

Although we do not have the six binders, the linotype for Richardson’s “Classed List” is still in our collection and available for study.

Princeton University. Library. Classed list. Princeton: University Library, 1920. 6 v. Contents: v.l. 0000-0999, General works, book sciences, government documents, periodicals and encyclopedias; 1000-1999, History and geography.–v. 2. 2000-2999, Language and literature.–v. 3. 3000-3999, Modern languages and literature.–v. 4. 4000-4999, Arts; 5000-5999, Theology; 6000-6999, Philosophy and education.–v. 5. 7000-7999, Social sciences, 8000-8999, Natural sciences; 9000-9999, Technology.–v. 6. Special collections. Firestone Library (F) Z881 .P94 1920

Jefferson Davis turned on his head

E. Rogers, Jeff. Davis Going to War. Jeff. Returning from War a [Jackass] … ([Philadelphia]: S.C. Upham, 1861). Graphic Arts Collection GA2015- in process

An “upside down” or “topsy-turvy” is a picture that can be seen differently from a different direction. When it is only words, an upside down is usually called an ambigram or inversion.

A good example of a topsy-turvy is this lampoon of Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), the first and only president of the Southern Confederacy. When Davis is going to war, he is seen as a forward leaning soldier but when he is flipped, he is returning from war as a jackass. During the American Civil War a number of these topsy-turvys were produced to make fun of politicians and military generals, among others.

The wood engraving was created by E. Rogers who sold the copyright to the popular print publisher Samuel Upham, whose shop was located on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. It was Upham who successfully marketed the piece.

In the study Confederate States Paper Money: Civil War Currency from the South by Arlie R. Slabaugh (2008), the relationship between the two men is described:

Samuel Upham was one of these entrepreneurs who was already operating a combination drugstore, perfumery and stationery shop when the war began. Not an originator, he was quick to grasp the sales potential of items introduced by others. . . From one of the [nearby] engravers, E. Rogers (132 S. 3rd St.), Upham purchased rights to a card which showed the head of a jackass transformed into the head of Jefferson Davis. Heads up, Davis is going to war, while reversed it shows his drooping, later appearance. Subsequently, Upham used the design on stationery which he advertised on a large business card as the “Jeff. Davis letter sheet” June 30, 1861. Upham’s letter sheets were priced at $1 for 100, $8 per 1,000. His business card stated that “Should you wish to engage in the sale of them, which I advise you to do, as I know by experience that they will sell rapidly, please address all orders to S.C. Upham.”
(Firestone Library HG526 .C65 2008)

A Seven Ages of Man Fan

George Wilson (active 1795-1801), Shakespeare’s Seven Ages. Stipple engraving. London: Ashton & Co., 1796. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2015- in process

untitled_41985, 11/14/11, 10:48 AM, 8C, 7744x10967 (254+479), 108%, Final Repro Cu, 1/120 s, R61.2, G50.9, B68.1

George Wilson (active 1795-1801), Shakespeare’s Seven Ages (London, 1796). Beinecke Library, Yale University

George Wilson (active 1795-1801), The Female Seven Ages. Stipple engraving. London: Ashton & Co., 1797. Folger’s Shakespeare Library

This unmounted print by George Wilson turned up recently. It was meant to be folded and attached to a lady’s fan. The Beinecke Library has a completed version and the Folger’s Library has the complement showing the female Ages of Man.

Thanks to Rosanna Lucy Doris C Harrison, who posted A Scholarly Catalogue Raisonné: George Wilson and the Engraved Fan Leaf Design, 1795-1801, online we now know more about Wilson and his publisher Sarah Ashton.

“Wilson himself was part of a now largely obscure collective of eighteenth-century London-based fan makers. His business was located at 108, St. Martin’s Lane, in the centre of the city. Meanwhile, his works were entered and exhibited regularly at Stationers’ Hall, an ancient Livery Hall of the Old Company of London Stationers. Wilson can also be assumed to have been a member of the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers, which was integrated in 1709 and located at 70 Fann Street.”

“Wilson collaborated with other engravers and printers who specialised in printing fan leaf designs, figures such as the fan maker Cock, Joseph Read, and Sarah Ashton . Ashton, in particular, worked closely with Wilson in the publishing of many of his fan leaf designs—pointed up by the inclusion of the humorous line ‘… by S.A Professor of Physiognomy & Corrector of the Heart’ in the lyrical verses placed in the centre of The Quiz Club fan leaf . . . that allude to the initials of Sarah Ashton—and was a very prominent female publisher of fan leaves in the mid to late eighteenth century.”

“She was admitted in 1770 into The Worshipful Company of Fan Makers as she carried on the printing business in Little Britain, near St. Paul’s Churchyard, after her husband died. Ashton published at least 13 engraved fan designs . . . .”

A Scholarly Catalogue Raisonné: George Wilson and the Engraved Fan Leaf Design, 1795-1801 by Rosanna Lucy Doris C Harrison (M.A.,Uuniversity of York, 2012).
http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/2672/1/m.a_by_research__thesis_-_Copy.pdf

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then, a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then, the justice,
In fair round belly, with a good capon lined,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Jaques, As You Like It, Act II Scene VII.

Building Paper

In the 1860s, paper manufacturing was on the rise in the United States. One area in which paper was making inroads was housing. Innovations were of such interest that the Chicago Tribune reposted the New York Tribune with the following story:

“A man in Des Moines, Iowa, has erected a dwelling house for himself built mostly of paper. The weather-boarding, inside walls, and shingling are of that material known in the West as the “Rock River Company’s Building Paper.” The cost is about two-thirds that of the ordinary materials, and the house, it is said, is much warmer than where plaster and wood are used.” New York Tribune. The building paper referred to in the above article from the New York Tribune is that manufactured by the Rock River Paper Company of this city, and we understand that it is creating a complete revolution in the construction of frame buildings wherever it has been introduced.” Chicago Tribune (1860-1872) [Chicago, Ill] 09 Mar 1869

Orson E. Merrill and his partner George Houston ran an iron foundry in Beloit, Wisconsin. His brother, Sereno T. Merrill, ran the Rock River Paper Mill Company and in 1860, convinced Orson to make parts for his paper machine. According to the Beloit Historical Scoiety, “by 1862 Merrill and Houston was producing complete paper machines, building four in that year and several years thereafter, along with water wheels and other iron products.”

Barrett, Arnold & Kimball, manufacturers of building paper felt, roofing materials, moth-proof carpet lining, etc.: Also, sole agents for the patent aluminous and ornamental building paper and paper carpeting, manufactured by the F.N. Davis Manufacturing Co. of Beloit, Wis. Office and salesroom, 164 Lake St., Chicago, Ill. ([Chicago, Ill.: s.n.], 1870)

Thomas Smith’s 1707 bookplate in his own book

Nicholas Bownd (died 1613), Sabbathum Veteris et Noui Testamenti: or the true doctrine of the Sabbath, held and practised of the Church of God, both before, and vnder the law; and in the time of the Gospell … (London: Felix Kyngston, for Thomas Man and John Porter, 1606). “This is probably the first ornamental American bookplate.” Binding is old calf with blind toolings on covers. Bookplate of “Thomas Smith, Hunc Librum Vendicat. Anno Dom. MDCCVII.” “Thomas Smith his book 1719”–Written in pen, front flyleaf. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Hamilton 7

Number 7 within the Sinclair Hamilton Collection of Early American Book Illustrators and Wood Engravers is a bookplate for Thomas Smith (1678-1742). Hamilton writes that it is “probably the first ornamental American bookplate.” He continues, “Earlier plates, of course, had made some use of printers’ type ornaments but none contain woodcut ornamentation in so elaborate a style as this. The cutting is better done and the result more elegant—if such a word can be used for work as early as this—than is the case in earlier American efforts at woodcutting such as John Foster’s seal of the Colony of Massachusetts or the figure which appears in the Cambridge Ephemeris of 1684. It is, however, very rare…”

Winterthur library owns a book with the same woodcut printed “Josephus Parsons, Hunc Librum Vendicat, Anno, MDCCXVII.”

Smith is given a short biography in Oliver A. Roberts’s History of the Military Company of the Massachusetts: “Thomas Smith (1702), merchant, of Boston, son of Thomas (1678) and Rebecca Smith, of Boston, was born May 13, 1678, and married, (1) May 9, 1701, Mary Corwin, who died July 29, 1716, and, (2) April 30, 1717, Sarah Oliver, sister of Nathaniel (1701). He was elected scavenger in 1711 and 1712, and overseer of the poor in 1712, and thereafter until 1719.

March 11, 1717—8, he was chosen with Col. Thomas Fitch (1700), Elisha Cooke (1699), Major Habijah Savage (1699), and Lieut.-Col. Minot, to “Consider and make report of Some Expedient for Securing the Marsh at the Lower end of the Common.” From 1713 to 1 718, he is designated as “Capt.” Thomas Smith (1702) was first sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1705; ensign in 1713; lieutenant in 1715, and captain in 1722.

He joined the Old South Church, April 28, 1717, and was a benefactor of Harvard College. Administration on his estate, which inventoried five thousand seven hundred and forty-three pounds, was granted to his widow, Sarah, and son, March 23, 1742.”

Lithography in Cincinnati

The Graphic Arts Collection holds a number of American lithographic posters, most of them printed in Cincinnati. In January 1867 the job printing portion of the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper was purchased by Maj. A. O. Russell, Robert J. Morgan, James M. Armstrong and John F. Robinson Jr. (owner of the Robinson Bros. Circus and the Robinson Opera House), who incorporated under the name of Russell, Morgan & Company. The company printed posters and circulars for theaters, circuses, and other firms around the country.

“In the extension of the art of lithography into color work, Cincinnati printing concerns at once step into first place. As a lithographic center, this city has no superior in point of product or its quality. There is established in Cincinnati the only general lithographers’ supply house west of New York, and it is said to be the best stocked and most thoroughly equipped of any in the country, barring none. This in itself is a commentary on the importance of this city in this line.”

“There are three distinct lines in which Cincinnati leads the world. They are in the printing of posters, labels and playing cards. The poster work done here cannot be praised too highly. It is the largest and finest business of the kind in the world, and that these may not appear to be unwarranted claims, it is needed but to tell the facts that Cincinnati has practically all of the printing of posters to do for all the circuses of the country, and at least seventy-five per cent, of the theatrical work. It is a pioneer in the business. The first circus bill of at all modern size was set by the late A. O. Russell by hand, and from this early and simple beginning the business has grown to its present enormous proportions, and has earned its reputation as first city in the world in this branch. One other fact might be mentioned to show the good reason for these claims.”

“…From figures carefully collected and compiled by the Cincinnati Typothetae it is shown that there are in that city one hundred and seventy printing offices. These offices use three hundred and seventy-five cylinder presses, four hundred and twenty-five job presses and one hundred and sixty-eight paper cutting machines. There are sixty-two of these offices that have cylinder presses with capacity to deliver 4.500,000 printed sheets per day. The job presses in the city have a capacity of 6,375,000 printed sheets per day. It is estimated from sources that are quite reliable that the one hundred and seventy printing concerns in Cincinnati have a combined capital of something over $5,000,000. The three thousand six hundred and fifty employees receive in wages $2,900,000, while the total value of the printed output is $6,500,000.”

“These concerns use annually $125,000 worth of printing ink, and the large size of some of Cincinnati’s printing concerns can be seen from the fact that one concern uses almost half of this amount of ink. The amount of ink that is used by a lithographer or showbill printer is much greater than that used in book or job printing, since in the former case it is put on almost solid. The cost of the inks used by these large concerns is greater than the cost of the black inks and the news inks that are used in the other departments.” – “Printing in Cincinnati,” American Printer and Lithographer 31 (1900), pp.98-99.

See Death as a Triumph

On Sunday, the opinion page of the New York Times ran an essay by Deborah Lutz on death masks and other postmortem memorials (http://nyti.ms/1JyNkp1). The author of Relics of Death in Victorian Literature and Culture (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Firestone Library (F) PR468.D42 L88 2015) wrote:

What I came to realize was that the Victorians cared about the mortal body; its very mortality mattered profoundly to them. Today we try to deny the body’s movement toward death, its inevitable decay. The Victorians, instead of fearing the process of dying and the corpse, felt reverence. These were stages in the life of a beloved body and should be treasured.

It is interesting that she would choose to illustrate the article with a death mask that included the pillow and blanket around Sir Thomas Lawrence, since this was a rather uncommon pose. The Laurence Hutton collection of life and death masks includes only three in such a position, which we can confirm having just moved them.